Guides

The questions asked before hiring a searcher, answered.

Written from the examiner's side of the desk. Each guide opens with the direct answer and states the price where a price is relevant.

• How to invalidate a patent: the four routes District court, IPR, post-grant review, ex parte reexamination — who can use each, what art each needs, and how to choose.
• What does an invalidity search cost in 2026? Published 2026 rate bands, what moves the price, and what a flat fee should include.
• Types of patent searches: invalidity vs. patentability vs. FTO Four searches, four questions, four date windows — and why a report from one cannot be reused as another.
• How much prior art does an IPR petition need? Patents and printed publications only, a reasonable likelihood on one claim, and art the examiner never saw.
• Responding to a §103 rejection: argue, amend, or search first? Verify the citations, check the combination, and search the examiner's field before narrowing.
• Responding to a §102 rejection: the three questions that decide it Every limitation arranged as claimed, whether the reference is prior art at all under the AIA dates, and what to amend to if it is.
• Office action deadlines: three months, six with extensions, the after-final two-month rule Every period by action type, how extensions work, what a missed deadline costs, and the docketing rules that prevent abandonments.
• What does a prior-art search report contain? The seven sections of a usable report, and the difference between a report and a hit list.