Patent search glossary
Plain-language definitions of the patent and prior-art search terms you'll meet in a novelty report - prior art, CPC, novelty, inventive step, freedom-to-operate, and more.
Prior art
The body of knowledge that was already public before a given date - patents, published applications, and other publications. If an invention is fully described in the prior art, it is not novel.
Novelty
The requirement that an invention be new: not already disclosed, in its full combination of features, by a single earlier document.
Inventive step (non-obviousness)
The requirement that an invention not be an obvious combination of existing knowledge to a skilled person in the field, even if no single document shows all of it.
Freedom-to-operate (FTO)
Whether making or selling a product would infringe a patent that is still in force in your market. Distinct from novelty - see novelty vs FTO.
Claims
The numbered statements at the end of a patent that legally define what it protects. Infringement and freedom-to-operate turn on the claims, not the description.
CPC (Cooperative Patent Classification)
A hierarchical code system that groups patents by technical subject. Used to focus a search on relevant technology areas - as a guide, not a hard filter.
Semantic search
Searching by meaning rather than exact keywords: the invention is turned into a vector and matched against patents describing the same concept, even in different words.
Patent family
The set of patents, across different countries, that protect the same invention and share a priority filing. Counting families avoids double-counting the same idea filed in many offices.
Priority date
The earliest filing date an application can claim. Prior art is generally judged against this date.
Publication (18-month rule)
Patent applications are usually published about 18 months after filing. The most recent filings are therefore invisible in any database until they publish - a limit of patent law, not of a search tool.
Novelty-destroying (X reference)
A single prior-art document that discloses every feature of a claim - enough to defeat novelty on its own. Examiners tag it "X".
Prior-art matrix
A grid mapping each feature of an invention (rows) against each close prior-art patent (columns), showing where the idea is already disclosed and where the white space is. See how to read a prior-art matrix.