Any patent that you employ in a litigation effort will invariably undergo an invalidation attempt in the form of a prior art search. The reason this practice is so ubiquitous is that it is more often successful than not. While the USPTO searches for prior art before issuing a patent, a single patent examiner on a tight schedule conducts the search.

While there are a myriad of low-cost, fly-by-night search companies all over the world, the adage “you get what you pay for” was never truer than it is with prior art searches. These firms may provide quick results, but the time and money you save will eventually be spent in verifying, vetting, and expanding on the research they provide. More often than not, the result may be cheap data that you eventually throw away.

Companies turn to us first for prior art searches when all other avenues are likely to fail to yield results. Standard methods of conducting prior art research involve extensive Internet research and may include trade magazines and libraries. However, the best and strongest prior art is often hidden in less obvious places. Our prior art research methods include standard online search methods but also dive deeper into technical publications, data sheets, boneyards, and interviews with technologists in the field at the time of the invention.