Priority searches between patents and trade marks

Patent prior art searches fundamentally differ in 4 different types that require highly variable timeframes and approach strategies. 

1.  The individual document search makes it possible to detect the full text of an Italian or foreign patent, at the status of application or granted, from the knowledge of its salient data, i.e. application, publication or grant number. 

2.  The family search makes it possible to detect all bibliographic references connected to a patent, whether Italian or foreign, which originated from it in the territorial extension of the patent, starting from the knowledge of the salient data of the same.

3.     The name search, which can be conducted nationally and/or internationally, allows all bibliographic references linked to the name of an inventor or patent holder to be found.

4.   Subject searches, which are more laborious and difficult, make it possible to detect bibliographic references of patents related to a specific technical field in an international context. This makes it possible to assess the state of the art with regard to a given technical solution concerning a device, equipment or industrial process. It makes it possible to obtain an overview of the 'state of the art', i.e. to gather information on the knowledge acquired by competing companies in one's own sector; to ascertain if and where it is lawful to produce and market one's own product without infringing the rights of others; and to assess the degree of novelty and originality of one's own technical solution in light of a possible patent application.

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Trademark Priority Searches, which can be conducted in the Italian and/or international context, basically fall into four different types and make it possible to detect possible prior design rights. 

They make it possible to verify whether the trade mark, possibly the subject of a subsequent application for registration, is likely to cause confusion in the average consumer, for identical or similar goods and/or services, with earlier marks or signs.

1.  The search on the individual trade mark allows the salient data of the trade mark itself, i.e. the name and/or logo protected, the classes of goods and/or services distinguished, the ownership, etc., to be found from the knowledge of an application, publication or concession number.

2.  The name search, which can be conducted nationally and/or internationally, allows all bibliographic references of trade marks linked to an applicant's name to be found.

3. The identity search, which can be conducted nationally and/or internationally, allows the detection of all bibliographic references of trade marks identical to the name of interest in the desired product classes.

4.  The similarity search, which may be conducted nationally and/or internationally, makes it possible to detect the existence of earlier trade marks that are phonetically or identically similar to the name of interest in the desired classes of goods. Both identical and similar trade marks to the name of interest are listed in the search report.