What is Validity/Invalidity Search in Patents?
Patent validity/invalidity searches are conducted to ascertain validate/invalidate one or more claims of the granted patent. An invalidity search includes ex-post-facto patentability/novelty search after the patent is issued. Patent validity/invalidity searches are primarily carried out in matters where a serious patent infringement suit is involved or some kind of monetary transaction against patent rights is involved. It is matter of fact that digitization of documents takes time and it is not possible to search and analyze every published document during patentability/novelty search over web. Some documents are accessible with time (particularly documents published in form of physical copies and co-pending unpublished patent applications). Disclosure of such document may have serious consequences to the patent rights. On the other hand, a validity/invalidity search may confirm strength of patent rights while assessing its enforceability to evaluate its monetary value. It ...