How to find prior art without spending countless hours on citation analysis?
Have you ever been lost in the ocean of cited references in a patent invalidation search? Citation analysis, although a powerful strategy, is often limited to the second or third generation of cited patents. It is difficult to go beyond because as you go from the third to fourth generation patents, the number of patent […]
How we found a prior art in patent invalidity case from a previous lawsuit
Has this ever happened to you during a litigation grade search that you found prior art in complaint documents? Yes, those very documents which in a previous infringement lawsuit was used to invalidate the claims of a patent? Not yet? Grab a cup of Joe as today I’ll narrate the tale of how we found […]
How we used literature available after the cut-off date to find X references?
“Do you think prior-art searches are only about looking at relevant literature available before the cut-off date?” – I asked the newly joined members of my team. All bewildered by the question, responded with a nod in unison. “Well, you all are kind of right. This is the reason most of the searches are focused on […]
Designing a Product – How Ignoring Patent Clearance Search could be fatal?
You (or your company, for that matter) are working on developing a product. A result of a ton of brainstorming, a dozen or more presentations to senior management, and a couple of approvals – You have high hopes for the product. A significant innovation in your niche, you are pretty sure the sales numbers would […]
How to find prior art when mathematical expressions are part of the claim elements?
Finding prior art for a patent that has a mathematical expression or a complex equation in its claim is hard. If you have worked on such cases before, you would know it is not like another keyword-based search that can be done by anyone. Spending more time would also not give you the desired result. […]
Prior Art Search: Digging Deep into Combination Art
As a litigator, you love killer prior art, don’t you? But sometimes you have to make do with 103-type if you are in the US. The sound of 103-type just made you sigh, didn’t it? It is justified too. Weak prior art can create conflicts for any attorney, in any case. Fighting with a 103-type […]
Can our products face litigation when they come to the market?
How do you assess for your company, if the risk of patent litigation is ahead on the cards? Companies, especially the ones based on internet technology face a constantly evolving landscape. This in turn makes them vulnerable to financial and reputational losses if IP risks develop. As a result, it has created an exigency for […]
How intellectual curiosity helped us identify a killer prior art in a short timeframe?
Have you ever faced a situation where you had to find killer prior art in a limited time frame? Let me tell you what happened when we faced a similar challenge recently. In this case client wanted a killer art, but within a week. Tom, a European litigation attorney, came to us with a prior […]
Non-patent Search: How we killed an ecigarette patent
Has this ever happened to you – You are conducting a prior-art search and something keeps on jabbing at the back of your head, questioning whether you have explored everything? Well, it happens to most of us, particularly while exploring non-patent literature. Let’s assume, that you have finally managed to exhaust all the patent literature […]
An FTO Search Strategy That Can Effectively Cover All Kinds Of Threats
As a business head, how do you handle the Freedom to Operate (FTO) study for a product that has multiple features? Do you feel the fear of missing out on possible threats while conducting the clearance search? Fear of missing out on threats is quite justified because your key objective with the search would be […]
Books: A wonderful source of finding prior art!
“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” ― Jorge Luis Borges I’ve heard this quote many times, yet hadn’t felt it until now. Recently, I was analyzing the stats of the projects we’ve done over the last year and was very happy that in the majority of the cases we […]
Case of really tough LED patent previously under lawsuits and part of PTAB petitions.
“My client wants a fresh search on a patent about LED substrates” emailed an attorney – our repeat client – on a Friday. “Of course, we can help you as this is relatable technology”, replied a new associate from our Sales team after having checked with me twice on a Friday night call, “We are […]
We Found Prior Art for a 4G Telecom patent using Link Adaptation Concept from 90s
“I don’t know what else I can tell you, it seems nothing good exists,” said the attorney on a conference call. This conversation took place during one of the interim connects in the project lifecycle (mostly around 40% or 80% completion point). The patent we were tasked to invalidate was around communication technology, relevant to […]
Patent Preliminary Analysis – Which Patents Can be Invalidated?
Almost every day, multiple patent litigations suits are filed. The increasing frequency of these cases indicates companies are now more inclined to stop competition or get value over their claimed invention. But what if these claimed inventions are not new/valid – Is this deal fair? As per recent statistics, In 764 out of 1086 IPR […]
Our investigative approach helped us find convincing evidence in the cited prior arts. Let me tell you how.
When it comes to prior art searches, among the huge list of resources and strategies explored and employed during the search, searchers generally tend to give a low priority to already cited patent references. Now, this approach is quite justifiable, as most search assignments come with a tight deadline, and why spend valuable time looking […]
My Love for Music helped me find prior art in IEEE 802.16 standard. Let me tell you how.
In our years of performing invalidation searches, there were often occasions when we found inspiration for prior art from the environment around us. There are way too many to link each of them, but you get the idea. I’ve got an addition to make to the list. What inspired me in this case? – You ask. […]
