First to File: Patents for Today's Scientist and Engineer

Appendix B Patent Searchers

The term “patent searchers” is used herein to include patent professionals who are engaged to find any published materials, including patents as well as other materials that relate to an invention that one seeks to patent or that has already been patented. Patent searchers are many and varied, ranging from individuals specializing in certain areas of technology to firms that profess a capability to search all areas of technology and boast a roster of individual searchers, each with expertise in a specific area. Many searchers, particularly those operating individually, are former patent examiners and many are present and former patent attorneys or agents, and as a result, no single individual is conversant or capable in all areas of technology. In addition to differences in technological expertise, there are variations in the scope of materials that a searcher will encompass in the search, with some searchers claiming a global scope and some claiming a scope that includes all published literature, whereas patent attorneys and other clients who use searchers repeatedly tend to know which ones are most effective for which technologies and for which types of published materials or geographical regions. Variations also lie in the manner in which the searcher presents the search results, since any search will entail some degree of analysis on the part of the searcher in selecting the items to be included in the search report and some searchers provide ...