Patent search is the cheapest way to avoid burning filing costs and to design a focused protection strategy around your invention.

Search types

• Novelty search — before filing
• Freedom-to-operate (FTO) — before market entry
• Validity search — to assess an existing patent before litigation
• Patent landscape — mapping competitors in a technology area

Findings come as an element-by-element matrix mapping each feature of your invention against the closest prior art, so the next move (modify, refile, drop) is clear.