Designs searching

Whether you are launching a new product, keeping tabs on a competitor, or you just want to know if your idea is new, design searching is a great way to ensure your competitive advantage is secure. We are able to assist with a range of search options depending on your commercial objectives and budget.

IP Organisers (IPO) is our dedicated wholly owned IP research and investigations company, providing intellectual property (IP) research and searching services. IPO has extensive experience in design searching and watching.

Our search services for designs include:

• Newness and distinctiveness investigations – These searches are typically conducted for clients who believe they have a design that is registrable. The search will identify other design registrations (prior art) that an attorney can compare against the design to assess if it is registrable.
• Validity investigations – These generally start with an existing design registration and look for prior art that may impact the validity of the design.
• Infringement investigations – These start with a product and search for any existing design registrations the product would (or may) infringe.
• Landscape searches – These searches are used to identify what research work is being done in a particular technology, and who is conducting it. The search can also cover the developing and changing nature of designs. Such searches may assist with decisions about the direction future R&D should take.
• Name investigations – These are searches of design literature conducted in specific names. Name searches are often conducted to determine whether a company has IP protection in relation to a particular product.
• Due diligence investigations – These are searches of IP portfolios to determine the current legal situation of the identified IP. They are often used in mergers, acquisitions, licensing arrangements or initial public offering matters.
• Documents provision – We provide copies of documents including design registrations, patent specifications, human or machine translations of patent specifications, patent file histories, journal articles, standards, and almost any document that is required by a client.
• Watches – We provide regular, periodic watches of specific IP rights, competitors and technology fields to assist clients in keeping abreast of developments that may impact on their business.