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The first condition of patentability is that the invention must be new. You should always find an answer to whether your invention is new before submitting your application, since patenting costs can be considerable and unnecessary payments can thus be avoided. You can ask us to carry out a novelty search for you and to find out whether your idea or invention is new.
The scope of the search depends on the time used to carry out the search. The more searches are made the more likely it becomes to find possible novelty bars. Typically it takes one or a couple of working days to carry out a search. If there are clear obstacles to an invention, they are generally found during the first day of the search. Therefore a search period of one day may provide a reasonably comprehensive scope for the novelty search. If a complicated invention is concerned or a more comprehensive search is required, then more time is needed for the search.
The aim of a requested novelty search is to search for possible obstacles to patenting. The novelty search will reveal publications with technical solutions that are similar to those disclosed in the request, or closely resemble them. The search report includes information on databases, patent classes and key words used in the search as well as a list of cited documents.
Cited patent documents are generally available in the free patent databases, such as Espacenet. You can also order copies of all documents, or only of other documents than patent documents against payment.
In addition to the search, you may request a comment on the contents of the cited documents. There is a fee for this service. In such comments, we reveal the features of the invention cited in the documents but we will not advise on the patentability of the invention.
The patent classification is a way of defining the technical field of an invention. At present, the two most popular patent classification systems are the International Patent Classification (IPC) and the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC).
The patent classification helps you to conduct searches in our databases. The classification allows you to restrict your search to a particular technical field and to keep the number of search results at reasonable level.
You can use the International Patent Classification (IPC) in all our databases. The IPC classes are indicated on the front page of each patent document with the marking Int.Cl. (2015.01)". The number in brackets varies and tells you the IPC version of the classification.
The IPC classification is updated once a year. Old classification schemes can be found on the IPC website. Go to the IPC website . (Under "Catchwords " you will find a small list of search words that you can use to try to find suitable classes. Also note the searches Terms and Cross-references on the left.)
You can use the CPC classification system instead of the International Patent Classification (IPC) in database searches. In the Espacenet database, for instance, there is a specific field for the CPC.
The use of Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) based on the IPC classification has grown in popularity, particularly among large offices. For information seekers, the CPC provides a precise and usable search tool. As the IPC offers a complete range of technical fields divided into more than 70,000 groups, the CPC divides the fields into 250,000 groups, which is why the search result is more precise than when using the IPC.
The CPC is a system jointly maintained by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the US Patent Office (USPTO) and many national patent offices, including the PRH, classify their patent documents using the CPC. In addition, the EPO classifies the patent documents of countries included in the minimum documentation, as referred to in the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), by the CPC. Such countries are Germany, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Russia, Japan, Australia and Canada (and PCT documents). Since not all patent documents have been classified using the CPC, you might not find all relevant information when searching with the CPC. In contrast to the IPC, the CPC does not indicate the classification code in the patent documents, and therefore the CPC can only be used in online searches.
