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PATENT SEARCH & NULLITY ANALYSIS
On behalf of our clients, we conduct searches and monitoring services to the highest quality standards, following a brief discussion to refine the search or monitoring objectives and clarify the problem, including the search terms and classifications to be used.
PORTFOLIO
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Overview Searches:
High-level patent searches designed to provide a broad understanding of a particular technological field or market landscape.
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State of the Art Searches:
Comprehensive investigations to uncover prior art relevant to a specific invention, assessing its novelty and potential for patentability.
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Opposition and Nullity Searches, including Detailed Claim Analyses:
In-depth searches aimed at identifying prior art that may challenge the validity of an existing patent, with meticulous examination of claims to support opposition or nullity actions.
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Freedom-to-Operate Searches:
Complex searches to evaluate the risk of infringing existing patents in a specific market, helping to determine if a new product can be launched without legal risk.
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Patent Monitoring and Surveillance:
Ongoing, systematic tracking of patent publications and updates within a defined field to maintain competitive awareness and inform strategic decision-making.
Simply describe your situation and goals to us briefly, and we will gladly advise you on the most sensible approach, both in terms of content and cost-effectiveness.
Depending on your needs, our reporting can include an overview of all relevant results in an Excel table, provide all full documents as required, and include a concise report with conclusions and outlook. Please note that we do not provide legal advice in this context.
For patent monitoring, we create a customized search profile for you, which we regularly update in collaboration with you. At defined intervals (e.g., every two weeks, monthly, or quarterly), we deliver a report containing new findings relevant to the profile or updates to known records if their legal status has changed. We are also happy to handle the distribution of reports within your company to relevant recipients.
Using the same structured process as in an infringement search, prior art can also be found within the scope of opposition and nullity searches. In these 'Prior Art' analyses, the goal is to identify a document published before the priority date that already discloses the inventive concepts underlying the patent. This would negate the novelty of the invention, making the patent subject to potential nullification. In cases involving damages claims, which are often associated with significant costs, or cease-and-desist orders that may lead to substantial revenue issues, a 'Prior Art' search is often a last resort for defense. Frequently, it may be sufficient to confront the claimant with the results of the prior art analysis, prompting them to withdraw their claim; otherwise, filing a nullity action may be necessary. For this, a thorough prior art analysis is essential. In a nullity analysis (as opposed to a standard nullity search), the individual claim elements are systematically broken down and matched with corresponding prior descriptions, including their sources. This involves searching not only patent literature but also, and especially, non-patent literature.
The approach is similar to that of an infringement search, though the search is conducted within a different timeframe of sources.