This course provides attendees with the basic skills needed to search for prior art when developing a patent application and/or taking your technology from R&D to production stage. The course includes a detailed presentation of the methods and tools for information retrieval, current sources of information, and modern trends in intellectual property search and analysis. The scope of this course encompasses searches of U.S. patents and published applications, foreign patents and published applications and non-patent literature. Case studies will be presented showing detailed examples of each type of search.

This course will provide attendees with key working skills crucial to the patenting process. The course describes the step-by-step requirements for filing a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Included will be coverage of the newly introduced practice for obtaining a patent within 12 months from filing. Special attention will be paid to prior art searching, since it is the distinction from existing solutions that makes the ideas patentable. The course includes methods and techniques of prior art searching with an on-line practical session in the fields of interest of the participants. The course teaches how to arrange your own electronic access to the USPTO database, create an on-line folder with your patents, and monitor the status and history of all transactions of your patent applications. You can also access any competing patent files as well as view the status and examiner's arguments in those patent applications. The interactive portion of the course includes sharing expertise between the instructor and the participants, practicing quick on-line access to any given patent application and creating Excel spreadsheets of all the patents and applications of any company of interest.