Using a Patent Search to Help Your
Research and Development Effort

Suppose you have an idea for a new product. You have the basic concept, but there are some problems you have not yet solved. The typical approach is to give the problems to your research and development or engineering department and spend quite a bit of time and effort trying to solve the problems.

Have you ever considered the possibility that someone else might already have solved your problem? Before you spend too much time and energy, it might be worth a look at the collection of patents to avoid reinventing the wheel. One of the purposes of the patent system is to serve as a source of information about inventions and ways of solving problems. You can find technical information in patents that is not published anywhere else.

A patent search can be done by anyone or by a professional searcher. You can conduct a search yourself on the Internet (See, e.g. Helpful Links), at a patent depository library (such as the Louisville Free Public Library), or at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington. Also, we can have a professional search done for you at the U.S. Patent Office through searchers with whom we have established a relationship. The Louisville Free Public Library does not have a complete collection, but it might be a good place to start. The cost of a professional search is about $700.

From the patent search, you might find just the solution to your problem, or you might find some inventions that jog your imagination into solving the problem in an entirely new way. You are free to copy anything shown in an expired patent. If the patent has not yet expired, we can make a brief review of the patent claims and of your plans, and then let you know whether there is any potential infringement problem. Even if there is an infringement problem, you may find that it is less expensive to obtain a license and pay royalties rather than developing a solution which does not infringe the patent.