Inventors often express the belief that patent searches should be as simple as doing a quick Google search. I’m often approached by inventors who are confused as to why many patent attorneys charge thousands of dollars to conduct a patent search, while some online services charge only a couple hundred dollars.
How much a patent search should cost? The brief answer is, you generally get what you pay for.
If you’d like assistance with your patent search needs by calling (916) 760-8265 or sending us a message using our contact form.
Otherwise, read on for a quick breakdown of what factors into the cost of a patent search.
Scope of Search
Just about every patent search will encompass all of the patents and published applications in the United States. This accounts for about 60% of the total body of literature that can impact the patentability of an invention.
More elaborate searches will also include international patents and applications that can be machine translated into English, and thus queried with English language search terms. This accounts for another 20% of patent data.
The most in-depth searches will also include a variety of non-patent literature and data stored in proprietary databases, such as journal articles, sales brochures, and other publications and marketing pieces. This accounts for the final 10% to 20% of all the data out there.
When deciding how much to spend on a patent search, you have to consider the risk of missing a pertinent piece of information. Bear in mind, the purpose of a patent search is to determine whether it’s worthwhile to invest in filing a patent application. What if you go the cheap route and don’t turn up any relevant prior art, and then years down the line have your patent overturned because a more in-depth search showed that your invention wasn’t patentable?
The more thorough the patent search, the better you will be protected.
Search Logic
Every patent search utilizes natural language queries of relevant databases. Basically, Google-style searches. However, more advanced searches will utilize proximity searches and Boolean terms and connectors to catch documents which don’t have an exact match for queried phrases, but contain relevant information.
The most advanced, precise searches will also include classifications (utilizing how patents and applications are classified by the USPTO to turn up potential matches, rather than focusing strictly on keywords) and common assignees (applications and patents involving one or more inventors conducting the search).
Again, the more thorough the approach, the greater the likelihood of finding relevant prior art.
Searcher Location
The unfortunate reality is that the majority of patent searches are outsourced to foreign firms in India and elsewhere. This can obviously have an impact on the quality of the search, as English fluency and breadth of vocabulary may vary widely from one contractor to the next.
Having a patent search conducted within the United States comes at a premium. The lower the patent search price, the more likely it is that the work is outsourced.
Search Deliverable
When I say, “search deliverable,” what I mean is what you will actually receive from the individual or firm conducting the patent search when everything is said and done. If you go the cheap route, you can expect to receive a pile of papers—copies of applications, patents, diagrams, and other materials that the searcher believed to be relevant. It’ll be on you to connect the dots in a meaningful way.
In the middle of the spectrum, you’ll likely receive a feature matrix that indexes the discovered material, with a few references. For inventions that are not illustrated, such as chemical compounds, this may be adequate. Ideally, the feature matrix will link the “fatty acid” in your application to the “Oleic acid” in the search reference, and other such associations.
At the very high end of the scale, searches include art matrices, which point out where relevant features can be found in patent drawings and other documents. This is the space in which I serve my clients. There is significant value in the clarity of being able to say, “Look at box C4 on the chart—how is that different than what you are doing,” versus, “Find the ‘123 patent in the pile of papers, turn to page 14,” and so on.
The last part of the search deliverable is the patentability opinion. Generally, most attorneys agree on a number of analytical hours in advance (usually at least one, sometimes as many as ten), and then the attorney generates an opinion as to patentability, based on what was accomplished in the allocated analytical time. A better search substantially reduces analytical time. Thus, it is cheaper to pay for a better search deliverable that allows for easier analysis, than for the increased attorney time necessary to review a mediocre search deliverable.
At the low end, patentability opinions simply cover anticipation of a few of the selected references. Most patentability opinions will consider obviousness of some combination of references. The high end involves determining which specific features are most likely to confer patentability. From there, the inventor can determine whether those features are worth the cost of patenting.
So, what’s a patent search going to cost me?
According to the 2017 edition of the annual American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) Report of the Economic Survey, the median price of a patent search and patentability opinion is about $2,000. This means that there are just as many patent search firms that charge more as there are those that charge less.
That may seem like a lot, but the tenth percentile price is $1,000—only 10% of patent services charge $1,000 or less for a patent search. To put this another way, 90% of professionals working in the industry believe that they cannot do an adequate job for less than $1,000. Thus, those willing and able to charge such a low price are very likely those who have the least concern about the quality of their work.
There is no single fixed answer for what the right price is for a patent search. To determine what’s right for you, consider what upfront costs you can afford to bear now, versus how much might be at stake down the road. If there’s a high likelihood that your invention will be the basis for a profitable product, then it would be wise to consider $2,000 as the starting price for a patent search, depending on your needs.
If you would like a patent search conducted, or have further questions about patent searches, the Law Office of Michael O’Brien can help. Contact us today by calling (916) 760-8265, or send us a message using our contact form.