How far back does an invalidity search need to go
In an invalidity or prior art search, thoroughness is the focus. A single overlooked prior art document, related by one or more generation of citations from where the search started, can be enough to challenge validity.
Take a candidate patent covering a battery thermal management method. Start with its direct citations: the documents identified as relevant during its examination. Checking those takes an afternoon.
That's where the search becomes interesting. Beyond the examiner's citations lie prior art documents describing the same underlying cooling approach in different language, different jurisdictions and different portfolios. Finding them requires following the citations while keeping track of what has already been reviewed.
What the FAB browser changes
Patently Search's Forward & Backward (FAB) browser is built for that. It moves across citation generations in both directions, with citations deduplicated at the family level, so each generation adds families you haven't seen rather than repeats of ones with family members already reviewed. The same battery patent's second- and third-generation citations stay visible and distinct.
Patently Search's FAB browser helps you search citation generations as deep as an invalidity search needs. See Patently Search.
Take a candidate patent covering a battery thermal management method. Start with its direct citations: the documents identified as relevant during its examination. Checking those takes an afternoon.
That's where the search becomes interesting. Beyond the examiner's citations lie prior art documents describing the same underlying cooling approach in different language, different jurisdictions and different portfolios. Finding them requires following the citations while keeping track of what has already been reviewed.
What the FAB browser changes
Patently Search's Forward & Backward (FAB) browser is built for that. It moves across citation generations in both directions, with citations deduplicated at the family level, so each generation adds families you haven't seen rather than repeats of ones with family members already reviewed. The same battery patent's second- and third-generation citations stay visible and distinct.
Patently Search's FAB browser helps you search citation generations as deep as an invalidity search needs. See Patently Search.