1. Patexia Web Series:
Patent and Prior Art 101
Pedram Sameni
Founder and CEO
Patexia.
March 2013
www.patexia.com
Disclaimer: Patexia is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice

2. Outline
● Intellectual Property: definitions and types
● Patent and patentability
● Prior Art: definition and types
● Patent Search: types and strategies
● Available resources
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.

3. Patexia Web Series: IP Matters
As part of its mission to bring transparency and efficiency to the IP world, Patexia is
committed to educate its community on important matters in IP. This is our first monthly
webinar. In the following months, we plan to cover:
● Defensive Publications
● Business of Intellectual Property
● Strategies for Licensing Search
● Patent Analytics
● YOUR SUGGESTION, EMAIL: webinar@patexia.com
Webinar: Every Second Thursday of the month
10:30am (PST) - about 20 minutes
Tweet questions to @patexia
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.

4. Why IP Matters?
The ratio of tangible to intangible assets has been reversed
over the past four decades.
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.
www.patexia.com

5. What is Intellectual Assets?
● Academic Description
○ Intellectual assets are the intangible assets of the company:
■ Intellectual Property: Patent, Trade Secret, Trademark, Copyright
■ Other Intellectual Capital: Know-how, human capital , experience, knowledge, insight.
● Legal Description
○ Intellectual property is the legal right that can be asserted in court
Intellectual Assets
Know-How Intellectual Property
Experience ● Patent
● Trademark
Knowledge ● Trade Secret
● Copyright
Insight
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.
Patexia.

6. Patent and Patentability
Patent: A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a national government to an
inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public
disclosure of an invention (protecting against import, export, offer to sale, sale and
use).
● Novelty
○ At least some aspects of the invention must be new
● Non-obviousness
○ The invention should not be obvious to a person skilled in the art
● Utility
○ The invention should have a credible utility
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.
Patexia.

7. Claim, Description and Drawings
Claims are the legal part of the patent and what can be asserted in the court.
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.
Patexia.

8. What is Prior Art?
Prior Art: All information that has been disclosed to the public in any form before a
given date that might be relevant to the originality of an idea/patent. Examples:
● Patents (US and foreign)
● Patent applications
● Books and papers (conference proceedings and journals)
● Product, White papers, datasheets, product brochures, ...
● Web pages (with date information)
● Any clearly dated publicly available document
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.

9. Types of Patent Search
● Patentability / Novelty
● Validity / invalidity
● Clearance / Freedom to operate / right-to-use
● Infringement / out-licensing
● In-licensing / Technology acquisition
● State-of-the-art
● Landscape
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.

10. Search Strategy
● Phase 1 - Preparation
● Phase 2 - Search
● Phase 3 - Reporting
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.

11. Phase 1 - Preparation
Identify search Identify Search
Familiarize
terms Domains
Problem / requirement Synonyms Patent / Non-patent
Main concept (novelty) Classification Codes US / Foreign
Auxiliary concepts Assignees Datasheet / product
Function Inventors
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.

12. Phase 2 - Search
Search
combine
synonyms, codes,
assignees,
inventors,
fwd/backward
citations, boolean
and proximity
operators
Refine
find more Analyze
synonyms, codes, Review,
and narrow down compare with
search search requests
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.
www.patexia.com

13. Phase 3 - Reporting
Finalize Analysis Report
Review references Summary
Combine references Subject matter
Claim analysis Reference discussion
Claim chart (possibly)
Search History
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.
www.patexia.com

14. Resources (1)
1. US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (Free)
(www.uspto.gov)
2. European Patent Office (EPO) (Free)
(www.espacenet.com)
3. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (Free)
(http://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/search.jsf)
4. Google Patents (US and EU) (Free)
(www.google.com/patents)
5. Google Scholar (IEEE, PubMed, ...) (Free)
(scholar.google.com)
6. Free Patents Online (Free)
(http://www.freepatentsonline.com/search.html)
7. General Searching Best Practices
(http://www.intellogist.com/wiki/General_Searching_Best_Practices)
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.

15. Resources (2)
8. Bio and Chem:
○ Elsevier Science Direct,
○ Lippincott Williams & Wilkins,
○ Springer Link,
○ Oxford University Press
9. CS and EE:
○ IEEEXplore,
○ Association for Computing Machinery (ACM),
○ Softbase,
○ Ei Compendex,
○ INSPEC,
○ National Technical Information Service (NTIS),
○ Japanese Science and Technology (JICST-EPlus), PASCAL
10. Thomson Innovation (Delphion)
11. Thomson Derwent World Patent Index (DWPI)
12. Patexia (US, and PubMed): text search and visualization
(www.patexia.com/ip-research)
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.

16. Questions or Suggestions
QUESTIONS?
Tweet: @patexia
SUGGESTIONS?
webinar@patexia.com
Patexia Web Series: Patent and Prior Art 101 (March 2013)
www.patexia.com
Patexia.