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Topic: Search Business Method Patents - Real Exampl (Read 1079 times) |
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Karthikeyan_K
Newbie
Posts: 2
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Search Business Method Patents - Real Exampl
« on: Nov 13th, 2007, 10:44am » |
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As my first post to all inventors in this forum seeking guidance on self search I am posting my successful experience with google's patent search for my business method patent. If you type "business method patents search" in google web search you will find my blog ranked #2 just after the USPTO website. I have 2 patents pending and some great ideas.
Here are the simple steps I followed. (You will find more detailed description with links on my blog)
a) Point your browser to google's patent search.
b) Click on "Advanced Patent Search" link
c) Type your Invention title in .When you type search terms exclude words like "in", "and" , "or") and click search.
d) The results screen will display patents very close to your idea. If you have less than 2 pages then your idea could be unique. However you need to be more specfic to make an effective. search and google will help narrow the results.
e) Click on the most relevant links you will notice the US clasifications 705 this refers to business methods. Click on all the displayed links from d) and note the US classifications.
This means your invention is most likely to be classified here.
f) Now its time to be very specific, go back to the advanced search screen as in Step b)
g) In the US Classification box enter the classifications one by one you found in step e). make sure you have your specific key word and Click search.
h) If your idea is really unique should not have more than 1 page per classification.
i) Carefully go through all the results and see if your idea has not been patented already.
You have to do step i) in great detail to ensure that your idea is unique.
j) If you are done with steps a) through i) then Congrats! your idea is most definetly unique and has potential to be patented.
In my next post I intend to share my dilemma with design v/s Utility patents. You may visit my blog for most recent updates.
Cheers,
Karthikeyan K
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CriterionD
Full Member
 
Posts: 202
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Re: Search Business Method Patents - Real Exampl
« Reply #1 on: Nov 13th, 2007, 12:14pm » |
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Google Patents cannot be fully relied upon just yet. It is a good resource for some "preliminary" type self searching.
Not all recently issued patents are included in Google's database last I checked, and their OCR technology doesn't work perfectly. Moreover, published patent apps are not searchable via Google Patents
The USPTO & freepatentsonline are both better free resources in terms of conducting a thorough patent search. Their databases are more thorough, and their sites offer better advanced search capabilities.
And, no patent search is ever truly complete without searching both non patent prior art and foreign patent apps. Well, actually, no patent search is ever truly complete - the idea is to make it reasonably complete. Just because a patent search comes up clean, it doesn't mean your idea or invention is unique.
And, most patent classes contain many a thousand patents. Many keywords are common. And many patents do not use the same language a layperson might use to describe an invention.
It is not generally prudent to rely on simple keyword searching, even if combined with some general classification searching. Keyword searching can definitely be helpful, but be creative with it. Also, it generally makes sense to eventually narrow a search to the most relevant classes AND subclasses (although there are some inventions that fall outside of this advice, and many published patent apps are misclassified).
A last note - most patents reference similar prior art. Once you have found similar patents, it usually makes sense to go through and review referenced prior art, as well as more recent patents which reference a particular patent as prior art. This is very easy to do for anyone, and helps to ensure a more thorough search.
The Index of the United States Patent Classification system can be found here -
http://www.uspto.gov/go/classification/uspcindex/indextouspc.htm
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www.criteriondynamics.com
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Karthikeyan_K
Newbie
Posts: 2
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Re: Search Business Method Patents - Real Exampl
« Reply #2 on: Nov 13th, 2007, 1:03pm » |
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Very well said.
For new inventors the Search can be overwhelming and time consuming and days of efforts may not even scratch the surface of the enormous depth of information available.
Also searches can be very educative and informative, even if your idea was already patented and you did the search on your own you feel consoled.
In my personal opinion for starters Google search could be used as a tool to quick check patentability once it comes through clean then the odds are high of the idea being unique.
We also need to understand that no search can be comprehensive but atleast you need to be able to find exactly where your idea belongs and what are other ideas in the same area.
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