Book Review: Patent Searching Made Easy

 

It is a good book for the very basic introduction to searching for prior art. It is focused on the various systems available through the PTO to search old patents by keyword or classification number(s), and goes step-by-step through the process for doing that. It makes passing mention but does not go into any great detail, on the other available services, both free and paid, to search patents (such as Google Patents). Nor, does it go into detail on other non-legal sources like trade or industry sources for finding prior art. Although most prior art comes from previously issued or applied patents, it is not limited to prior patents or patent applications.

The book is an easy read and you can get through it fairly quickly. It is a good companion to the book Patent It Yourself, which walks through the entire patent process from the time you invent something, to actually getting a patent. While this does not tell you everything you need to know about patent searching, it is a good primer for those who want to keep costs down and not have a patent attorney or agent do everything for them (for those who are brave enough to tackle trying to tackle a DIY patent). It can also be helpful for a novice patent attorney looking to get a leg up on learning how to do a part of the job (if you search art before writing claims and/or do a lot of freedom to operate work) and your firm does not farm out the work to a prior art search firm. I definitely recommend it.