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Patent / Trademark Research:
We provide our clients with thorough patent and trademark searches. Our offices in Washington DC allow us access to USPTO terminals, physical stacks, and examiners. Because we specialize in searching, we are able to cater our high-quality searches for the various needs of individual inventors and patent attorneys. We can work closely with you to determine your desired search parameters such as extensiveness of search, search areas, and budget. Furthermore, you are given an hourly quote based on the invention and applicable classifications before the search is started. Our clients may set a maximum hourly budget based on this quote or their own parameters. All of our searches are completed by trained searchers in the Patent Office and when necessary are complemented by our personally selected science and engineering consultants. Searches include patentability, validity, infringement, right-to-market, state-of-the-art, and scheduled updates. Patent copies are available on CD-ROM or in hard copy.
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Patentability:
This research is the first step towards obtaining a patent. The process involves searching for patent and non-patent references that would be used by a patent examiner to prevent the issuance of a patent. The basic conditions of patentability, are that the invention must be novel, contain an inventive step, be capable of industrial application and not be in one of several excluded fields according to 2132 35 U.S.C. 102(a) and 103(a). Patentability research is the most inexpensive patent research however the cost can still be daunting to those unfamiliar with the patent process. Fortunately, we provide hourly as opposed to fixed prices. This ensures that our clients get exactly what they ask for and pay for since we adhere to our clients' hourly budgets.
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Validity:
Validity searches are performed to locate patent and non-patent literature that contain information which may be used as evidence to invalidate or oppose the grant of patents on the basis of lack of novelty or inventive iteration. The search involves only material published before the priority date of the patent of interest in a broad search area. The search may include newspaper articles, conference proceedings, journals and textbooks, as well as patent literature to identify relevant material published globally.
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Infringement:
Infringement searches involve the discovery of unexpired or in-force patents with claims restricting or defining the infringment of an entity. Infringement of a patent consists of the unauthorized making, using, offering for sale or selling any patented invention within the United States or United States Territories, or importing into the United States of any patented invention during the term of the patent. If a patent is infringed, the patentee may sue for relief in the appropriate Federal court. The patentee may ask the court for an injunction to prevent the continuation of the infringement and may also ask the court for an award of damages because of the infringement. In such an infringement suit, the defendant may raise the question of the validity of the patent, which is then decided by the court. The defendant may also aver that what is being done does not constitute infringement. Infringement is determined primarily by the language of the claims of the patent and, if what the defendant is making does not fall within the language of any of the claims of the patent, there is no literal infringement.
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Right-to-Market:
Also termed a "Clearance" or "Freedom-to-Operate" search, right-to-market searches determine the ability of an entity to produce, use, sell or market a product or process subject to the claims of expired AND unexpired patents. Before a company introduces a new product to the marketplace, it must conduct a right-to-use search of issued and currently maintained patents to determine whether or not the new product infringes any patents. Similarly, expired claims may reveal areas in which it is safe to operate.
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Technical Drawings:
We offer technical drawings for submission with patent applications. Our drawings are fully compliant with the standards set forth by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Section 1.81 of the Title 37 Code of Federal Regulations for Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights. We take pride in the quality of our drawings. Our in-house engineers use expensive, professional software including AutoCAD and Pro/Engineer to complete all drawings.
Pricing is set on an hourly basis. While some drafting firms boast fixed prices per drawing, we take pride our hourly pricing. This is because, if a drawing requires more time than the fixed price allows, many firms sacrifice quality. If a drawing requires less time than dictated by the fixed price, the client is wasting money. For this reason, we give an approximate hourly quote for each drawing to ensure fair pricing.
Some clients choose to have drawings made during the patentability search process. This is an advantage in this very collaborative process where there is simultaneous communication between the inventor, drafter and researcher.
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Prosecution Histories:
Patential Search Inc. also offers clients with patent file history copying service. Although most firms have established methods of retrieving patent file histories, we are able to provide them at very inexpensive rates due to our rock bottom operating costs. Most importantly, we establish a single contact person for you to deal with throughout a transaction. That contact person will keep you posted as to actions taken with the File Information Unit and the location of your requested file. We offer the quickest turnaround times possible and even give you the option of delayed service at a discount rate if there is no rush on the file. File histories are $.75 per page with no minimum order or service charge. All shipping is billed to the recipient.
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Non-Patent Articles and Publications:
Non-patent literature can be a crucial and often overlooked variety of prior art. With access to numerous DC university libraries and the US Library of Congress, we are able to find and and provide copies of various documents and articles. We have experience in hunting down requested publications from science research centers, universities and professional organization libraries such as those of the National Institute of Health. Exemplary university resources include undergraduate, medical, law, and pharmacy libraries of Georgetown University, University of Maryland, The George Washington University and American University. Government department and military branches also maintain publicly available resources which contain numerous literature references which may be critical to patent related research.
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Hand Delivery:
We provide general courier service between locations in the D.C. metro area or we can hand deliver documents shipped to our offices. We offer hand delivery to the "Attorney's Window", specific patent examiners, PTO offices such as Licensing and Review, TTAB, OIPE or any other location in the Washington D.C. metro region.
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Assignment / Title Searches:
We perform searches to determine a patent's chain of title, patent ownership and transaction characteristics and terms. This can be done on a same day or next day basis.
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