Patent research is often perceived as a formality before filing an application. In reality, it is full-fledged analytical work with its own standard, regulations and reporting. Its quality determines whether a development will receive a patent and whether it will infringe the rights of others. We examine what the methodology of patent research is, what stages the standard provides for, and what the procedure for conducting patent research looks like in practice.
The concept of patent research and its tasks
The concept of patent research: it is the study of the technical level and development trends of technical objects, their patentability and freedom to operate (patent clearance), on the basis of patent and other information.
Put simply, patent research is a way to answer four practical questions: what has already been created in this field, how new your solution is, whether it infringes the patents of others, and where the technology as a whole is heading.
The tasks of patent research differ depending on the stage of work:
- Patentability assessment — whether the solution has novelty and an inventive step, and whether it makes sense to file an application.
- Patent clearance check — whether the product can be released to the market without infringing the valid patents of third parties.
- Technical level analysis — how the development compares with the best world analogues.
- Study of development trends — which directions are actively being patented and which are exhausted.
- Justification of R&D — confirmation of the feasibility of the work and exclusion of duplication of already existing solutions.
It is worth noting separately: for government contracts and R&D work, patent research is often mandatory, and its report is part of the reporting documentation.
Patent research methodology according to GOST
Patent research according to GOST is carried out in accordance with the national standard GOST R 15.011, which defines the content of the work, the procedure for performing it and the requirements for the report. It serves as the basis on which industry-specific methodological recommendations for conducting patent research are built.
The value of the standard is that it sets uniform rules: any expert who opens a report understands its structure. And the customer can check the completeness of the work performed. Without a formalized methodology, a study turns into a set of random findings.
Stages of patent research: from the assignment to the report
The standard defines a sequence of work in which each step builds on the previous one.
- Drawing up the assignment. The goal of the research, the object, the deadlines and the responsible performers are formulated.
- Drawing up the search regulation. The patent research regulation is the key document of this stage. It records the subject of the search, the countries, the depth of the retrospective period, the databases used and the IPC classification headings.
- Conducting the search. Selection of documents according to the regulation in patent and scientific-technical sources.
- Systematization of the selected materials. Documents are grouped by topic, applicant and priority date.
- Analysis of information. Comparison of the solutions found with the object under study, assessment of the technical level.
- Drawing up the report. Presentation of the results in the established form.
The content and procedure of patent research presuppose that the report includes the assignment, the search regulation, the search certificate, the selected documents and an analytical part with conclusions. A ready sample of a patent research report is usually prepared according to the annexes to the standard, which contain typical table forms.
Patent research of the technical level and development trends
The two most analytically intensive directions deserve separate attention.
Patent research of the technical level answers the question of where the development stands relative to the world level. For this, comparison indicators are chosen — performance, accuracy, energy consumption, service life — and the object is compared on them with the best analogues found in patent documents. The result shows whether the solution surpasses existing ones or merely repeats them.
Patent research of technology development trends works with dynamics. It analyzes how the number of patents in a direction has changed over recent years, which companies are increasing their activity, in which countries protection is being sought, and which technical approaches are displacing one another. This makes it possible to see whether a direction is developing or is already saturated, and to adjust R&D plans before funds are invested.
The procedure for conducting patent research in practice
In practice, the procedure for conducting patent research runs into several bottlenecks that are useful to know about in advance.
First — the correct choice of classification headings. An error in the IPC indices means that the search will miss an entire layer of relevant documents, and the conclusion about novelty will turn out to be false.
Second — the depth and geography of the search. Limiting yourself to Russian databases is not enough. A solution may be patented in the USA, China or Europe, and information from foreign sources affects both the assessment of novelty and patent clearance.
Third — the terminology problem. The same technical solution is described in different words in different patents, so a search strictly by keywords systematically loses documents.
Fourth — labor intensity. A high-quality study on a single topic traditionally takes from several days to weeks of a specialist’s work, while the volume of patent collections continues to grow.
How POSINT automates the patent research methodology
Modern tools work precisely on the bottlenecks listed. The POSINT Service uses AI to speed up the most labor-intensive stages while preserving the logic of the standard.
What the Service takes on:
- semantic search by the meaning of the solution, not only by keywords — this removes the terminology problem;
- work with Russian and international patent databases in a single interface;
- selection of relevant classification headings;
- selection and systematization of analogues for comparative analysis;
- preparation of materials suitable for inclusion in the report.
The role of the expert is preserved. The methodology, the assessment of essential features and the final conclusions remain with the specialist. AI speeds up search and processing, but the interpretation of results is the work of a human.
Conclusion
The patent research methodology is a tool for managing technical risk. A competently conducted study shows whether it is worth filing an application, whether the market is free for the product and in which direction the industry is developing.
If you need to conduct a patent search and assess the novelty of a development, leave a request, and POSINT specialists will help carry out the research and prepare materials for the report.