Patent searching

Whether you are launching a new product, keeping tabs on a competitor, or you just want to know if your idea is new, patent and 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 individual objectives and budget.

IP Organisers (IPO) is our dedicated wholly owned intellectual property (IP) research and investigations company. IPO provides IP research and searching services including patent, design and trade mark searching and watching. The team is also able to assist with IP management and reporting services.

Our search services include:

• Novelty or patentability investigations – These are typically conducted by clients who believe they have an invention that may be patentable or a design that is new and registrable. The search will identify other patents (prior art) that a patent attorney can compare against the invention or design to assess if it is new (novel).
• Validity investigations – These generally start with an existing patent or design and look for prior art that may impact the validity of claims in that patent or assertion of a design being new.
• Infringement investigations – These start with a product and search for any existing patents or designs the product would (or may) infringe.
• Landscape searches – These are used to identify what research work is being done in a particular technology, and who is conducting it. It 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 patent or 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 patent specifications, human or machine translations of patent specifications, patent file histories, details of registered designs, journal articles, standards, and almost any document that is required by a client.
• Working of patents – In some cases, it is necessary to establish nominal working of patents. We can arrange the placement of suitably worded advertisements in Australian publications for the purposes of establishing this nominal working.
• Watches – These are 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.