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Patent research

A hundred million documents, and the useful ones are the failures

The patent record is where industry writes down what it tried. Grants tell you what is closed. Abandonments and rejections tell you what did not work, paid for by someone else. We search both, in four fields, before you commit to a prototype.

Start with a search

4fields we search in and keep current
2 to 4weeks for a landscape, quoted before it starts
Everyfinding carries a document number, date and link
Stopis a normal and fully paid outcome

The method

Six passes over the same question

  1. A claim highlighted inside a page of text A page of eight text lines where the fourth is drawn in mint and boxed, marking the claim that matters.

    The question, written down

    We turn the idea into a technical question with boundaries. Half of all bad searches are bad because the question was never fixed on paper.

  2. A register entry with an identifying number A card with a heading line and three shorter lines under it, and a bright point at the corner.

    Classification, not keywords

    We work from the classification scheme first. Keywords miss anything filed in another language or under another word, and the record is written in dozens of languages.

  3. One document branching into four territories A single document at the top connects by four lines to four smaller squares below it, one of which is filled.

    Forward and backward citations

    From the closest documents outward in both directions. This is where the field's real map appears, including the companies that never turn up in a search engine.

  4. A patent term running out along a scale A horizontal scale with twenty ticks where the first fourteen are bright and the last six faint, and a marker sits at the change.

    Legal status and family

    A claim only binds where it is in force. We check status and territory, because an expired patent and a granted one look identical in a database listing.

  5. A standard document with a version stamp A document with five lines of text and a small round stamp in the lower right corner.

    Standards and literature

    The record is not the whole picture. Standards in force, drafts about to replace them, and published papers go in the same document.

  6. A line ending in a bar A horizontal line that runs into a solid vertical bar and stops there.

    The written landscape

    One document: what exists, who owns it, what lapsed, where the space is, and a recommendation. The recommendation is sometimes to stop, and it is written in the first paragraph rather than buried.

A defined scope A frame with what is inside it, and crosses for what falls outside SCOPE 2800 OUT OUT WHAT IS IN

The line

What this is not

This is engineering research, not legal advice. We are not patent attorneys and we do not act as any. We do not file applications, we do not prosecute them, and we do not issue formal freedom to operate opinions.

What we produce is an engineering picture of a field, with every document identified so that you or your attorney can verify any line of it independently. When a decision needs a legal opinion we say so in the document, at the point where it is needed, and we work with your attorney or introduce you to one.

  • No filings, no prosecution, no formal legal opinions
  • Every finding identified by document number, date and link
  • The recommendation appears in the first paragraph, including when it is stop

About the search

Which databases do you use?

The public ones, principally the European Patent Office's Espacenet and its open data services, the World Intellectual Property Organization's Patentscope, and the national registers where a family needs following. Everything we cite is publicly retrievable, so nothing in the document depends on a subscription you do not have.

What if the search finds that the idea is taken?

We tell you on the call the day we know, not at the end of the engagement. You keep the landscape document, and it usually contains two or three adjacent openings that were found on the way.

Can you do this under an NDA?

Yes. In practice we sign one before the first substantive conversation. Note that a public search is visible to nobody but us, so the search itself does not disclose your idea to anyone.

How current is the record?

Applications publish eighteen months after their priority date, so the most recent eighteen months of filing activity is invisible to everyone, including us. We say this in every landscape document rather than letting a client discover it later.

The method

Ten rooms where answers are made

Benches, test tracks and the meeting table with the drawings rolled out. Hover to see what each room measures.

  • A laboratory bench A laboratory bench with an oscilloscope, a probe and a board under test BENCH 3400 H 880 SCOPE 200MHz DUT REV C LAB
  • A prototyping workshop A prototyping workshop with a 3D printer mid print BUILD 2800 Z 1500 0.2 mm PLA 215C PROTOTYPING
  • A test track A test track from above with cones, timing gates and a vehicle line TRACK 4400 62 km/h GATE 3 TEST TRACK
  • A field measurement A field measurement with a tripod, an antenna and an open case SITE 2800 H 1980 GNSS FIX LOG 44
  • A microscope A microscope over a circuit board with a cone of light on the stage STAGE 2400 40x FIELD 0.4 MICROSCOPE
  • A soldering station A soldering station with iron, fumes, solder and a helping hand BENCH 3800 350 C 0.6 mm SOLDERING
  • A thermal camera A thermal camera aimed at a motor, with the heat image lighting up STAND 2200 84 C EMIS 0.95 THERMAL
  • A control room A control room with a screen wall, curves and two chairs WALL 4200 GRID A FLEET CONTROL
  • An archive room An archive room with plan cabinets, rolls and a light table ARCHIVE 4000 1994 SHEET A0 ARCHIVE
  • A meeting table A meeting table from above with drawings rolled out, a pen and coffee cups TABLE 4400 REV 4 Q3

Field notes

What a search actually looks like

The record is drawings, filings and measurements. Six of the places we read.

  • Register och handlingar
    A filed drawing. What is claimed is drawn, and what is drawn can be searched.
  • Register och handlingar
    Rolled construction drawings. The detail that matters is rarely on the first sheet.
  • Ett arkiv med handlingar
    Bound volumes. Most of the record predates the search box and was written to be read on paper.
  • Ett laboratorium
    A pipetting robot. A published result is worth what the method behind it is worth.
  • Ett matinstrument
    A bench with a scope on it. A claim about a circuit ends here.
  • Laboratoriet och mätningen
    A microscope. The reading is the evidence, and the person is the one who has to trust it.
An opened envelope under an arc of light An envelope stands open in the middle with two lines of text visible, one of them violet. An arc of light curves over it from left to right and ends in a point. Above stands two paragraphs is enough, below stands it reaches the person who would build it. TWO PARAGRAPHS IS ENOUGH IT REACHES THE PERSON WHO WOULD BUILD IT

Start with the reading

It is the cheapest part of the project and the only part that can cancel the rest of it.

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