by Myra Roldan

Created on: January 17, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Preliminary Patent Search

You're feeling ready to start the patent application process for your invention, but aren't really sure how to proceed. You have your inventor's notebook; you've done some online and in-store product research and have not found a product like yours in the market. Before you move on to applying for patent for your invention, it's necessary to conduct a preliminary patent search.

A preliminary patent search will help you discover whether or not there is a patent already in existence for your invention. Let me stress the importance of this step. You wouldn't want to work on developing a product that already has a patent on file with the United States Patent and trademark office (USPTO). Failure to do a good search puts you are risk of infringing on another person's intellectual property and worst yet, you could hit a major legal and financial wall head on.

Now let me warn you, during your preliminary patent search it is very likely that you will find a similar patent. Even though the feeling is similar to going to a party and seeing someone wearing your exact same dress; don't be discouraged, this doesn't necessarily put the break on your invention. Your invention could have enough unique features and benefits, which set it apart from existing patents, allowing you to continue developing your idea.

When performing your preliminary patent search, there is something called, "Prior Art" (and no, I'm not talking Picasso here) you should know about. Prior art is any body of knowledge as related to your invention. These can be previous patents, journals, articles, any type of data book, catalogs, public discussions and more. When conducting your preliminary patent search you are in essence looking for prior art, this helps build a case showing that your invention is novel and proves non-obvious legal conditions that you will need to be granted a patent.

You can conduct your own preliminary patent search and save yourself some of your hard earned equity. Because as we know during the beginning stages of an invention, most inventors self-fund their projects. All you need to start your search is a computer with internet access and a printer. The USPTO has libraries called the Patent and Trademark Depository Library (PTDL). These libraries allow the USPTO to receive information from inventors and publish patent and trademark information to the general public.

You can search the USPTO library collections online free at www.uspto.gov. There you will be

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