Before filing an application for registration of an invention or utility model, it is advisable to find out: what are the chances of getting a patent and is it worth spending money on registration in the Patent Office?

To evaluate the level of protection of the developed solution, Zuykov and partners recommend conducting a patent information search. This is an optional procedure. However, it will optimize the time and money costs of the owner of intellectual property.

In order for a solution to be patented, it must meet the criteria of patentability: be new at the level of the world, industrially applicable and not obvious to a specialist in a particular field of technology (have an inventive step). To evaluate these criteria, patent specialists and patent attorneys conduct patent information retrieval. The main goal of such research is to understand whether the client's proposed solution can be registered.

During the procedure, a specialist studies and analyzes solutions known in the world that are close or similar, and sometimes the same to the client's object. The research area includes publicly available sources of information: patent documents, articles in journals, any technical documentation, textbooks and reference books, information on Internet sites and product catalogs and other information that is available to any interested person.

Based on the identified sources specialist evaluate the chances of obtaining a patent and draw a conclusion about the expediency of patenting, as well as give recommendations on which patent is better to protect the claimed solution. The client receives a search report with evaluation of patentability, recommendations and a list of identified and researched sources of information.