The UKIPO has launched a new patent search tool

The UKIPO has launched a new patent search tool

Many innovators and R&D teams understand and appreciate the value of patent searching, both as a design tool and to see what others in their field are up to.  Patent searching can help to identify what may be patentable about your own innovation, provide key insights into how others have tried to solve technical problems in your field, and even provide a picture of the technical landscape, and the key players (i.e. the main competitors), in your field, and we are pleased to see that the UKIPO has launched a new patent search tool.

The European Patent Office developed the patent searching platform Espacenet many years ago, and more recently revamped it to make it more user-friendly.  Espacenet allows you to enter key words (or other data) to search for published patent documents that might be relevant to your research and development.  From the search results, you can access the contents of the patent documents themselves, and, in many cases, even link through to registers that will tell you the status of those patent documents (for example, are they live granted patents, or lapsed patent applications, etc.?).  There are, of course, other patent searching tools available online, including Google Patents

Now, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has launched a new online search tool for UK patents, that will help IP professionals and the public to search for UK patents more easily, with a view to supporting UK growth and innovation.  The new OneIPOSearch tool will replace the previous Ipsum service, which has provided online access to the UK patents register for 13 years, and represents a significant leap forward in the modernisation of UK intellectual property services.

Apparently, during the coming year, we can expect to see further changes as part of the ‘OneIPO’ transformation programme, with the delivery of a suite of new digital services, which can only help to keep UK IP services at the forefront of world innovation and growth.

How can patent searching help you?

Every year, hundreds of thousands of patent applications are published globally and, as a searchable collection, published patent specifications hold a wealth of commercially-useful, as well as scientifically-valuable, information. Whether you want to find out if your own invention is potentially patentable, or if your new product might infringe someone else’s patent rights, or if you just want to find out what your competitors are up to in your technical space, patent searching can be a hugely valuable tool.


The term ‘patent searching’ covers a number of different types of searching, and the type you need depends on what you want to achieve. There are main types of patent searches, namely:
• Patentability searches (is your invention potentially patentable?)
• FTO or infringement searches (will your invention infringe someone else’s patent rights?)
• Patent landscape searches (who are your main competitors and what are they up to?)

Can we help?

We would always recommend that you use a professional search company and an attorney to perform (at least) patentability and FTO searches so that the search strategy can be properly formulated and a legal analysis of the results performed.


If you need help with a patent search, or have any other burning IP issues, please book a free initial consultation by emailing vicki.strachan@strachanip.co.uk or visit our website at https://strachanip.co.uk/contact/ or book a free confidential initial consultation by clicking this link: https://calendly.com/strachan-ip-a-fresh-view-of-intellectual-property/30min

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