How to Find Prior Art Leads?

The worldwide patent databases include an incredible amount of patent information. Generally, patent experts require a dependable method for distinguishing the “noise” from the patent documents required for their patent search. XLSCOUT’s patent search tool, renowned for its breadth, gives users access to more than 150 million full-text patent documents from patent authorities worldwide. However, a big part of what makes Novelty Checker unique is the user’s capacity to swiftly compile relevant patent search results by examining connections between patent documents. The following are some techniques for finding prior art leads:

1. Find prior art leads that are covered by patents from the same family.

All of the patent applications filed worldwide to safeguard a single invention are grouped together as a “family” of patents. In general, international patent documents are included in patent families along with initial domestic patent filings and ongoing patent applications. Further, users can use our AI-powered tool to learn more about the family’s patent filing history. It also aids in learning the geographic scope of the family’s patent protection.

2. Using patent citations, find potential prior art sources (in both directions).

Both patent applicants and patent examiners provide a record of the prior patent documents they are aware of that may affect the patentability of the underlying invention when a patent application is submitted (also known as a “backward citation”). A “forward citation” is when a patent application is referred later on in the patent prosecution as being pertinent to another application. Users can utilize citations to build on the prior art references they have found and to better understand the development of a particular technology over time by using the links to the forward and backward citations of a patent document. 

3. Find leads using similar patent documents.

Novelty Checker examines the titles and text of patent documents in its database to identify similarities and catalog related patents. This is a fantastic approach to multiplying a single patent search lead. This aids in speeding up the patent search process and finding leads in the prior art.

The advantages of Novelty Checker are: 

• Easy to use platform – Anyone can access 
• Gives patentability search report in 10 mins (Top 10 matching documents) 
• It compares with both global patents and literature in real-time 
• Innovation triggers and dynamic industry focus reports to align research and innovate better