Enrichment · Arts & Creativity

Before you file,
find what already exists.

A patent is only granted for something new and not obvious, and the search for what already exists, the prior art, is work an inventor can start alone. Log each reference with where you found it, which of your features it shows and how your idea differs. The organizer counts close matches and watches the one-year clock on your own public showing.

Add a referenceWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Arts & Creativity collection, $69 for 23 items.

Your prior art

The worked example is made up: a student’s self-watering classroom planter, shown at a science fair in February, with three invented references of the kinds a search turns up. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Enrichment · Arts & Creativity$5

What you finish with
A record per reference: your invention, the kind of reference, title, number, date, database, search words, closeness, the features it shows, how yours differs, your own first public showing and five search checks. Works out its age and whether it came before your disclosure; counts references by closeness; flags close matches, abstract-only reading, the U.S. one-year grace period and single-database searches.
Who it is for
Student inventors, science fair and invention convention participants, makers and the teachers who coach them.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per reference. Prints one reference, every reference in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Arts & Creativity collection ($69) and the Enrichment Suite pass ($119), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Arts & Creativity space in Caveat Enrichment.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write your invention’s key features in plain words.
  2. Search two patent databases and the wider web.
  3. Add each relevant reference with where you found it.
  4. Mark which of your features it shows and how yours differs.
  5. Follow the citations of the closest ones.

Add a reference

The search

A prior art search, step by step1Describe itKey features in plain words,then synonyms2Find the classLook up the CPC class of aclose patent3Search widePatents, applications andforeign filings in two4Search outside patentsArticles, products and videos5Read the claimsMark which of your featureseach one shows6Follow citationsBackward and forward from theclosestA prior art search, step by step1Describe itKey features in plain words, thensynonyms2Find the classLook up the CPC class of a close patent3Search widePatents, applications and foreignfilings in two databases4Search outside patentsArticles, products and videos5Read the claimsMark which of your features each oneshows6Follow citationsBackward and forward from the closest
Prior art is anything public before your filing date, anywhere in the world, in any language.

The one-year clock

In the United States an inventor’s own public disclosure, such as a science fair, a post or a sale, starts a one-year grace period to file. Most other countries require filing before any public disclosure. A provisional application can hold a filing date while you decide.

When to get help

A search like this shows what exists; deciding whether an idea is patentable is legal work. Only attorneys and agents registered with the USPTO may file for others. The USPTO’s Pro Bono Program and law school clinics help inventors with limited income.

Sources

  1. 35 U.S.C. 101 to 103 (patentable subject matter, novelty and non-obviousness), including the one-year grace period in 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(1).
  2. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patent Public Search and the seven-step strategy for searching (uspto.gov).
  3. European Patent Office. Espacenet and the Cooperative Patent Classification (epo.org).
  4. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patent Pro Bono Program and Law School Clinic Certification Program (uspto.gov).

The worked example and its references are made up. This organizer is for research; it is not legal advice or a patentability opinion. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat, which matters: keep unfiled inventions out of public tools. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.