An invention has to be novel to qualify for a patent. If yours already exists, there's no point applying, so check before you file.
There are both obvious and less obvious ways to find out. Carrying out a general preliminary search is one very worthwhile approach. And if you discover that your idea already exists as a patented invention, that does not automatically mean it is pointless to pursue. There will often still be scope to develop your idea into an improved version of what has already been patented. A patent attorney can also help you work out which existing rights you need to take into account. Here are my top three tips for checking the novelty of your invention.
Here are my top three tips.
1. Search the internet
This is an obvious thing to do, of course, but I want to include it because I regularly come across inventors who feel that what they find online is inferior to their own valuable invention. What matters is not the quality of your invention, in the sense of how sound or durable it is, but simply whether something similar already exists. And when you search, don't only enter the keywords for your invention in English. Try French and German too.
2. Explore the market
Besides the internet, there are plenty of other ways to keep track of what your competitors are developing and offering. You can visit trade fairs and seminars, for example. Make it second nature for employees who are in regular contact with customers to explore what the market has to offer and what customers want and need. Your employees are not only ambassadors for your company, they are also your eyes and ears in the field.
3. Search patent databases
As well as standard search engines like Google and Bing, there are specialist patent search engines such as Google Patents and Espacenet. These hold millions of patent publications from more than eighty countries, and they often turn up things you will not find through a standard search.
Novel because it isn't on the market?
An industrial designer came to see me with her invention some time ago. It was a bucket for whitewash with an integrated tray for the paint roller, and it was genuinely useful. "And it's novel, because I haven't been able to find it anywhere," she said. A check on Espacenet showed me, however, that the general idea behind her invention had already been patented in the United States. It had simply never been brought to market. The story still had a happy ending for the designer. When she saw the drawings of that invention on Espacenet, she said flatly: "That one drips." By showing how her version improved on it, and was therefore novel, we were able to obtain a patent after all. Her invention now sells in all the big DIY stores.
