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A Library of Knowledge

Patents are a rich source of technical information that is of immense use to entrepreneurs. The hope of the patent system is that investment will take place to transfer the patented technology to the market place under the helpful shade of the patent monopoly.  It doesn't always happen.  As an additional bonus for the rest of us, the inventor is required to allow details of his invention to be published - not immediately but in most cases within 18 months of the filing date.  It is these specifications that everyone can search. 

Why

The really frustrating thing for you as an inventor faced with an examiner applying a problem/solution analysis based on closest prior art you never saw before is that you never saw it before - and could have done - because it was there lying in the road all along.  You just didn't look.  So if you think you have got a problem, you should see what turns up when you search.  That would stop you reinventing the same thing and could help you spot where the others went wrong, refining your ideas.  Turning your invention into a business will refine your ideas anyway so you may as well get ahead of the game and not fall into the trap of so many entrepreneurial companies that find their technology has drifted well away from their expensive patent applications.

How

There is an amazing system called the International Patent Classification (IPC) that helps sought out the technology of the world into its place.  It provides a starting point for searching.  Naturally it keeps needing revision and it was bang up to date on 1 January 2006. 

I have written a working guide that illustrates how you can use the free search resources to discover the information you need.  To keep you focused it uses the example of an idea for a biometric bike lock.

Stop Press

My working guide was written before the December 2006 launch of the Google ® patent search tool.  This uses their proprietary search engine to present most likely useful results.  Its great if it throws up what you need.  It cannot be relied on to demonstrate that an idea has not been suggested before.  Note that it covers old US granted patents but stops short of today and does not contain applications yet.  They are still working on it and it does make it easy to examine your results.

In the Virtual World

You can download an article comparing searching software here. This was first published in Patent World in March 2005.  Computing power certainly makes searching easier whether you are using the IPC or keywords or a combination of both.

In the Physical World

If you prefer to be amongst the paper then The British Library's Business & IP Centre is the place to visit. Other major city libraries have collections too.