The Ultimate Cheat Sheet On Patent Searching
Along with the 21st century industrial revolution, the technological superiority is increasing day by day. This has altered the traditional role of an IP Professional. The complex patent searching with the ever-growing patent data is now made easy by the new generation systems and patent searching and analysis software like PatSeer.
Largely, there are four types of patent searches – Patentability or Prior Art Search, Freedom-to-operate (FTO) Search, Invalidity Search, and Landscape Search. An IP Professional can go for a broader or narrower approach depending on the type of search. Taking a deep dive into the Patent Analytics, Team PatSeer has broadly crafted some of the cheat codes for your effortless patent searching.
Keyword – Classification and Number Searching
It might sound crazy to use IPCs/CPCs in your initial searching stages, but it does give better results when you start the patent searching with few keywords. Many IP Experts would agree that starting with a complicated search query with Boolean and proximity operators, dates, etc. creates a vertical trap where you go through a stack of results that were screened out or in by your first search. Doing many searches with many relevant keywords within the patent database and looking for the relevant patent or patents is always advisable. Once you find these relevant documents that are in your technological space, you can start searching by using the IPCs/CPCs in these patents. Using the patent number of an expired patent on the relevant subject matter as the search term can also give you better results because later patents in similar tech space may have cited it as a prior art.
Truncations, Boolean and Proximity Operators
Every patent analyst knows the Boolean and proximity logic for query construction. The point lies in knowing which operator to use effectively in the search query. This is because using OR in the query fetches too many results. For example, you have around 10-15 keywords including synonyms describing the technology to be searched, and you use AND operator. You’ll get a few results which might be useful, or it may also happen that your query fetches zero search results. It happens since a patent document might not contain all the keywords, especially synonyms. Also, the using proximity operators and truncations properly in a search string enhances your search result set, letting you discover more relevant patent documents easily.
Similarity Search
Searching patent records that are similar to a found relevant patent utilizing multiple methods, using a patent analysis software like PatSeer, such as Co-Citations and Sub-classifications increases the relevance in the search result set. This improves the searching efficiency as you get to reach more relevant patent documents in a faster way.
Citation – Forward and Backward
The well-known and academically most studied patent data value indicator is the number of forward citations a patent has received. Patents which accrue a greater number of forward citations at a higher rate are generally considered to be important/fundamental patent documents or prior arts. After narrowing down your search, it’s advisable to sort the results by forward citations as it helps in reading and understanding the most cited patents. Similarly, the backward citations in a patent document aids in finding the prior art for the searched technology or invention.
Advanced Patent Searching and Analytics Software like PatSeer aids you in easing your Patent Search and Analysis Capabilities.
To view the complete cheat codes on patent searching visit – https://patseer.com/2021/02/cheat-sheet-on-patent-search/