Searching the Prior Art Database
Overview
Finding relevant prior art can be a monumental task. Yet it's one of crucial importance. The IP.com Prior Art Database is a unique database dedicated to the publication of technical disclosure documents. Its sole purpose is to enable the creation of and access to prior art. The IP.com Prior Art Database contains content exclusive to IP.com, and is an essential source of non-patent prior art literature for intellectual property (IP) professionals, research and development (R&D) staff, corporate library staff, and individual inventors wishing to research prior art.
The IP.com Prior Art Database is home to a wide array of technical disclosures from many Fortune 500 companies. In addition to the anonymous publications by many prominent companies, you will also find disclosures published with full authorship information from innovative companies such as IBM, Motorola, and Siemens. The IP.com Prior Art Database is also the exclusive location for new IBM TDB (Technical Disclosure Bulletin) documents on the Web.
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Content
What type of content is in the IP.com Prior Art Database?
Hundreds of clients ranging from large corporations to individuals are publishing defensive disclosures everyday in the IP.com Prior Art Database. These disclosures cover a wide variety of technology areas - some with authorship, some anonymously. In addition to all new technologies published since 2001, we have also acquired complete backfiles including:| Client | Publication Dates |
| IBM TDB | 1958 - present |
| Internet Society Request for Comments (RFCs) | 1968 - present |
| Microsoft | 2006 - present |
| Motorola | 1980 - present |
| National Institute of Standards and Technology | 1994 - present |
| Siemens Disclosure Journal | 1998 - present |
| Software Patent Institute (SPI) | 1995 - present |
| Sony | 2000 - present |
| US Statutory Invention Registration (SIRs) | 1985 - present |
| Xerox Disclosure Journal | 1976 - present |
How is the IP.com Prior Art Database searched?
The IP.com Prior Art Database can be searched in numerous ways depending on your needs. All documents are full text searchable to aid in locating relevant publications. Search types include:
- Keyword
- Boolean
- Document ID number
- Recent Publications
- Concept Query
Features
Unique content/Easy access
Much of the content in the IP.com Prior Art Database cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The IP.com Prior Art Database content is published intentionally and specifically to create formal prior art. Each disclosure is digitally notarized upon publication in order to guarantee that the content and date are firmly established in the public domain.
Furthermore, each document published into the IP.com Prior Art Database is full text searchable, regardless of the document type. This ensures you can locate even the most obscure prior art should it be relevant to your search objectives. IP.com also offers concept searching to help locate inventions and prior art that approximate the features or functions you are interesting in exploring.
There are many other search features that help reduce the universe of prior art to specific companies, specific document types, or specific data fields, allowing you to quickly zero in on relevant prior art.
Many companies use the IP.com Prior Art Database as their sole channel for putting innovation into the public domain. You’ll find a number of notable companies using our database in this way, including leading technology companies such as IBM, Motorola, Siemens, Sony, General Electric (GE), Abbott Laboratories, and ChevronTexaco. New disclosures, as well as many historical documents can be found on our system.
Searched by patent examiners worldwide
For prior art to be effective it has to be conveniently available to patent office examiners. The IP.com Prior Art Database is searched by examiners the world over. All examiners are provided unlimited free access. In addition, IP.com has a special training seminar that has been presented to and available to all key patent offices worldwide, enabling them to quickly find relevant prior art to prevent the issuance of invalid patents. The users of our premium search service have the same access to leading technical disclosures as do patent examiners worldwide.
Online and print publication
Prior art by definition must be placed into the public domain. The more accessible it is the more valuable it becomes. IP.com accomplishes this in two ways. First, by providing online access to the IP.com Prior Art Database for casual users as well as for the serious prior art researcher. We complement this online system by making the same publications available via The IP.com Journal. The IP.com Journal (ISSN 1533-0001) is a semi-monthly, printed publication containing all of the disclosures since the last volume. Each journal also contains a CD-ROM with the full digital content available for that volume's publications. The IP.com Journal is available in many libraries around the world (including the Library of Congress) and makes an excellent offline archive for corporate libraries.
Secured/encrypted search access
Access to the IP.com Prior Art Database subscription service is handled over encrypted (HTTPS) communications. This same security is offered to those who publish their prior art through IP.com. This ensures that your search and result data is private, and cannot be used to track your current R&D interests. We use secured systems and encryption protocols provided by current web browsers to enable us to provide excellent protection without requiring the addition of new software on the client machines.
Easy deployment within your infrastructure
The IP.com Prior Art Database can be accessed through your web browser, so there is no software to install or maintain. Flexible publishing and search subscription plans make it easy to deploy access to as many or as few users within your organization as you need. Special corporate benefits include the ability to mark your own corporate documents to users within your company, even if you've published anonymously. This helps in tracking down relevant technology within your corporation to maximize its value across geographically disparate locations.
Benefits
- Avoid wasted research into un-patentable technology or ideas
- Unique content, frequently not available anywhere else
- Gain insights into "current" technology versus "old" patented technology
- Increase awareness as to what examiners see when assessing your patent applications
- Find useful and cost saving public domain technology
Prior Art Database Search Access
An annual search subscription to the IP.com Prior Art Database includes unlimited full text and concept
query searches, unrestricted document previews, document downloads and many more benefits. If you would like
full access to the IP.com Prior Art Database, or have any questions regarding this service, please contact us at: