A novelty search is an important step in determining the newness, uniqueness or originality of an invention.
Also known as a prior art search or part of a patentability search, a novelty search seeks to compare the features of an invention against existing patents and other publicly available information.
During a novelty search, the features of an invention are reviewed to determine whether they are new when compared to the prior art base.
Implementation
Novelty searches are conducted by searching through existing patents, published scientific articles, technical documents, product literature or any other relevant information that is publicly available.
While some databases exist for performing these searches, they are best performed by an experienced patent attorney before a patent application is made.
This ensures an in-depth search is performed and minimises the risk of a patent application being rejected when being processed by a patent examiner as the patent attorney can ensure the features claimed are novel.
If conflicting prior art is discovered during a novelty search the invention must be modified or new features added to an invention to ensure it is novel or it will not be patentable.