This course introduces how to conduct a professional patent search of U.S. patent documents. It provides direction for determining when a search is needed and what types and sources of information should be searched in the process. The courses teaches skills that are applicable across databases, both proprietary and public, and without bias toward the features of a particular search platform providing a comparison of several major patent search platforms and an approach to evaluate strengths, weaknesses and benefits of the database providers who provide them.



Upon completion of the course, the student will have been introduced to:



• Systematic, methodical and exhaustive search approach

• Scoping the search before beginning.

• Hybrid searching combining classification, text query progression and citations, knowing the benefits and pitfalls of each.

• Differences in numerous types of searches

• Issues unique to searching within specific technical disciplines.

• Approaches to searching non-patent literature.

• Approaches to reporting search results.

• Considerations in selecting appropriate search tools.

• Ways to get more high-level information from patent search results.

• Multiplicity of data sources

• Types of data sources

• Patent data applications

• Multiple access points to same data

• Who uses patent data sources

• Why use patent data sources

• Foreign patent data

• PCT/WIPO documents

• Patent Families

• Patent Analytics

• Ethical considerations

• Tools and dynamics of patent examiner searches



This course is part of the Information Literacy series adopted by UNH School of Law Faculty defined as the ability to recognize and define an information need and to identify, locate, evaluate and use information effectively. These skills are the foundation of an academic career, as well as the defining characteristics of life-long learners.