Free patent searches are highly relevant when it comes to applying for a patent. An inventor should never leave anything to chance. The inventor should make sure that the idea is patentable or that there is no ‘prior art’ similar to the invention. This way he would not waste precious time, money and energy on a futile pursuit to earn a patent.
In some instances, during free patent searches you many discover that certain elements of the proposed invention (embodiments), but not all, will be patentable. A prior free patent searches and opinion allows the inventor to identify the patentable elements and file a patent application which avoids the prior art and prevents any patent infringement
Your first step when you get a patent idea is using free patent searches to know if there are related inventions out there and to see if you can protect your idea. This is important due to the following:
1) Free patent searches documents your idea and serves as a record of invention date.
2) Free patent searches prevent you wasting time on developing an idea that already exists.
Inventor need not solicit the help of a patent counsel to conduct a free patent searches. They can do the work themselves and search for free patent searches sites. For an inventor to be able to start his or her own Free patent searches, he or she needs to access the U.S. Patent Office Database at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html.
