Patent Search Examples for New Product Ideas

1-Utility Patents cannot be filed without identification of patent classification codes and prior art patents as part of the disclosure.

2-These assure the patent has been searched and makes that information available for the patent examiner.

3-There are over 150,000 categories and subcategories for patent location in the USPTO.

I am not a patent attorney or patent searcher. What I have offered on my site is my, a layman,  method of patent searching. Could I miss what I am looking for? Yes!  If you doubt your ability, you should hire a professional. 

Random Search Example #1 

 1- A few years back I had a safety concern relative to toddlers and unseated wall plugs and started thinking about an easy solution.

2- I touched the idea by picturing a spring- loaded skirt around the plug contacts that could retract around the plug as the plug was pushed into the outlet, with the skirt remaining in contact with the cover plate of the outlet and blocking little fingers from touching the contacts.

3- Going on to Google’s advanced patent search, I typed in electrical plug contacts safety shield.

4- A list of twenty-two thousand appeared. (Without a classification code, I expected the large number.)

5- Scanning the images, I stopped at US7094080B2. Safety device for electrical plugs.

6- Classification code H01R13/44 was presented. Means for preventing access to live contact.

7- Adding the code to my search terms, thirty-three results were presented.

8- There are four patents related to add-on devices versus built-in.

9- US709408082 was patented in 1993.

10- The idea was almost exactly what I was thinking about, even in sketch form.

11- I wanted a prior art date for that type of idea. US2458153A was granted in 1946.

12- The charge here, for a new patent, is to find a way that hasn’t been patented yet for the need that does something else as well? Maybe the invention fits all size plugs?

13- Maybe any type of contact safety shield is "off limits" until 2023.

14- I don't know the answer. That's why we have Patent Attorneys.

15- Don't forget! Find the Classification Code first.

16- Below with the blue shield was my concept. The bellows type was the system patented in 2003. Patents searches are paramount.

Random Search Example #2

1- Anyone that’s ever walked a large, young dog with a leash knows what it is like almost having an arm pulled out of its socket.

2- This is another example of when people start inventing.

3- Let’s pretend Amazon doesn’t exist and the thirty or forty items for sale that help rectify this problem don’t exist either.

4- I’m a mechanical guy and I’m thinking of a closed extension spring with one half of a leash attached at each end.

5- When the dog pulls, the spring extends absorbing the jolt.

6- We don’t want the spring to snap back and jolt the dog, so we think of something within the spring coils that slows down the closing of the coils. 

7- On Google Patents Advanced Search, I entered shock absorbing dog leash.

8- There are only 237 patents.

9- Wanting images to review more than descriptions, I clicked on the first image.

10- I clicked the title shock absorber for attachment to a dog leash. US7530334B1

11- From the list I clicked on the classification code which had the applicable words. A01K27/005

12- Over three dozen existing patents were displaying, all with different approaches to the idea.

13- I returned to US7530334B1 to open the patent to check the prior art.

14- US2593940A Is the first one with a date. 1948

15- I added dates, 1945 to 1970.

16- One new patent was added in 1966. US3441005A

17- I'm guessing there were many ideas for 20 years after the first one that couldn’t be patented, at least not right away.

18- After that, many were filed all providing shock absorbing in different ways.

19- My goal would be to be more definitive and come up with a way of providing a slow return to normal position of the shock absorber.

20- I could review the existing patents in detail first to find what not to work on.

21- I like to come up with something first to become engaged, and then look.

22- I have read and understand Provisionals can't infringe.

23- A Utility Patent can. Many Provisionals may mimic existing patented ideas.

24- When that happens, we simply stop working on them.

25- No harm done unless we spend a lot of money we shouldn't have.

Patent Search Examples for New Product Ideas