Patent Searching: Sleuthing Your Way to Stronger Patents

​​Patently Strategic - Patent Strategy for Startups

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You have an idea and you’d like to protect it. But can you? Is it novel? Non-obvious? Would you eventually be able to license or enforce your patent down the road? Who else is competing in this area and where’s the whitespace? If you get the patent, can you freely produce and sell the idea, without the costly risk of infringement litigation?
These questions and the quest for their answers unfold like a detective mystery. The sheer magnitude of source material to sift through is overwhelming. 172 countries with patent systems, over 11 million active patents across the globe, millions more published, but not granted, topped off with endless volumes of non-patent literature. A multitude of keywords, synonyms, and domain specific languages. Countless databases. A cacophony of clues, mixed with an abundance of superficially convincing evidence that could ultimately prove irrelevant. An overly litigious villain competitor lurking around the corner. And the greater powers of observation and the superior mind of a detective to cut through it all and make plain the answers to our untrained eyes!
Shelley Couturier, Patent Strategist, Search Specialist, and Chief Sleuth here at Aurora, leads a discussion along with our all star patent panel into the low cost, high return world of patent searching. The domain is complex, but the efforts have one of the highest possible ROIs of anything you can do, especially in the early stages of your patent journey. With some practical guidance and a little help, ​​patent searching will save you significant time, money, and effort in the long run, all while yielding a much stronger patent overall. I assure you, listening in will be a gift to future self.
Shelley is joined today by an exceptional group of IP experts including:
* Ashley Sloat – President & Director of Patent Strategy at Aurora Consulting
* David Cohen – Principal at Cohen Sciences
* Amy Fiene – Patent attorney at Vancott and adjunct professor at BYU
Oh – and back by popular demand, the group kicks off with another gripping ice breaker, which turns into an instant classic.
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** Resources **
* Show notes: https://www.aurorapatents.com/blog/new-podcast-patent-searching
* Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/JoshSloat1/patent-searching-sleuthing-your-way-to-stronger-patents
** Follow Aurora Consulting **
* Home: https://www.aurorapatents.com/
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* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aurorapatents/

And as always, thanks for listening!
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Note: The contents of this p

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1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. Icebreaker (00:02:33)

3. Why do a patent search? (00:07:52)

4. Professional searching vs. automated tools (00:08:38)

5. Offensive search strategies (00:12:27)

6. Bumble IPO case study (00:13:35)

7. Defensive search strategies (00:17:41)

8. Patent search types (00:19:42)

9. Patentability Search (00:20:07)

10. Validity / Invalidity Search (00:20:47)

11. Infringement / Non-Infringement Search (00:22:00)

12. Freedom-to-Operate or Clearance Search (00:22:44)

13. State of the Art Search (00:23:24)

14. Landscape Search (00:24:04)

15. Search Strategies: forward and backward reference search (00:25:04)

16. Search Strategies: classification/subclasses (00:27:09)

17. Search tools of choice (00:30:43)

18. Database-specific query operator nuances: booleans, wildcards, and truncation (00:31:53)

19. Search Strategies: approaches (00:32:47)

20. Search Strategies: tech domain specific (00:34:44)

21. Invalidity search guided walkthrough (00:38:18)

22. Caveats (00:51:10)

23. Trade secret implications (00:51:57)

24. Honing patent search skills (00:54:24)

25. Client engagement during the search process (00:58:02)

26. Search Strategies: application section search relevance (01:04:32)

27. Outro (01:08:25)