Low cost, flat rate patent search service

U.S. patent search
US and International patent search

Overview of our flat rate patent search practice
Why is a patent search important?
Why does it matter who does my patent search?
What to expect after you order the patent search
What our Patent Search Reports Generally Include
Current, Patent Search Special Offers

Find competing Prior-Art patents before investing much money in your idea.

US patentability search (1 week)

The below flat-fee patent research work is conducted by one of our highly skilled researcher professional having at least a Bachelors of Science in Electrical/Computer, Mechanical, or Chemical Engineering, depending on the technical area of the invention. Our search team leader and trainer is a former US Patent Office (USPTO) Patent Examiner who was trained by the USPTO in their exclusive patent search methods to efficiently discover prior-art that they use to reject patents. We believe that this competitive edge is a distinguishing factor that enables our quality of patent research to be unsurpassed. Most of the time the USPTO does not find any better prior-art than what we discover first.

We conduct our patent research through our Washington DC office using a wide variety of patent databases including the USPTO's advanced "EAST" system, which is practically the same search system used by USPTO Patent Examiners. Our US patent searches will include full text US Patent Publications and granted US Patents going all the way back to the very first set of patents.

Moreover, with Bay Area IP you are guaranteed that your invention always stays in the safety and competence of the USA. Unfortunately, many in the patent industry employ non-technical/non-legal patent researchers, or worse yet, many outsource your invention and patent research work overseas (e.g., to India, or Asia) without you knowing it, which risks your idea being stolen without any legal recourse by foreigners who are completely outside our legal system.

Item	Service	Description	Cost	Order Now (click for more details)
SP01	Basic US Search	Basic US Patent Search	$249
SP15	Normal US Search	Normal US Patent Search	$400
SP19	Advanced US Search	Advanced US Patent Search	$500
SP02	Basic US, Pro	Basic US Patent Search, conducted by a registered Patent Agent.	$400
SP17	Normal US, Pro	Normal US Patent Search, conducted by a registered Patent Agent.	$550
SP21	Advanced US, Pro	Advanced US Patent Search, conducted by a registered Patent Agent.	$700
SP09	Patentability Opinion	Legal Patentability Analysis of the closest prior-art patents found (within a few days, DOES NOT INCLUDE A SEARCH)	$150
SP11	Advanced Patentability Opinion	Advanced Legal Patentability Analysis of the closest prior-art patents found (within a few days, DOES NOT INCLUDE A SEARCH)	$250
ICD3	Consultation	0.5 hr consultation to help you assess and plan your best course of action	$150

Current, limited time special offers

The above options cover United States (US) patents and published US patent application. It should be noted that given the US is the largest market in the world it is very common that International patents are also filed in the US (especially for mass market or high tech inventions), whereby the US search generally discovers most, if not all, of the most relevant patent prior-art throughout the world. The "Basic US Search" level is usually adequate to achieve a basic confidence that your same invention has not been already patented in the US. The "Normal US Search" level is much more in-depth that the basic level, and usually adequate to achieve a good confidence that your same or highly similar invention has not been already patented in the US. See the next section for international patent research. The "Normal" level is usually the best balance between cost and thoroughness. The "Advanced" level is our most comprehensive level of flat-fee patent research and seeks to determine with reasonably high confidence if the exact invention exist, or an analogous variation can be construed based on one or more prior-art reference separately or in combination.

To provide you a service commensurate with your financial situation and invention protection goals, we provide various levels of patent searching options, each providing different degrees of depth and breadth of our prior-art patent search. Our our most basic patent search, our goal is to determine, with some confidence, if the exact invention has been previously disclosed in a patent. Our most comprehensive level of patent search we search patents and published patent application.

Usually, our patent research is completed in about a week for most jobs. We realize many inventors/companies require fast turnaround times so we make sure to maintain adequate staff to keep it faster (with no extra rush charge) than the industry-standard 2-4 weeks.

Regarding our patent research practice, generally, our search results and our patentability opinions (when ordered) knockout a relatively high percentage of searched inventions, and we make sure that we have a high integrity about not having an "optimistic eye" that leads many other organizations to gloss over problematic prior-art just to get your future business.

For help deciding the right level of service for your situation please [Click Here].

US and International patentability search (1 week)

The below flat-fee International patent research work performs the above US Patent research plus a worldwide patent search for the most relevant prior art that can be used to reject your invention.. It covers US Patent Publications, US Patents (going all the way back to the very first set of patents), European Patent Office (and all member countries), Japanese Patent Office (and all member countries), World Intellectual Property Organization (and all member countries), Derwent and the actual patents of lesser developed countries. All are full text with non-English text being provided with an English language abstract.

The "Basic Search" level is usually adequate to achieve a basic confidence that your same invention has not been already patented in the US. The "Normal Search" level is much more in-depth than the basic level, and usually adequate to achieve a good confidence that your same or highly similar invention has not been already patented. The "Normal" level is usually the best balance between cost and thoroughness. The "Advanced Search" level is our most comprehensive level of flat-fee patent research and seeks to determine with reasonably high confidence if the exact invention exist, or an analogous variation can be construed based on one or more prior-art reference separately or in combination.

For help deciding the right level of service for your situation please [Click Here].

Item	Service	Description	Cost	Order Now
SP23	Basic US & Inter.	Basic US & International Patent Search	$400
SP03	Normal US & Inter.	Normal US & International Patent Search	$500
SP05	Advanced US/Intern.	Advanced US & International Patent Search	$650
SP25	Basic US & Intern. Pro	Basic US & International Patent Search Engineering.	$500
SP04	Normal US & Intern. Pro	Normal US & International Patent Search engineering.	$650
SP06	Advanced US/Intern. Pro	Advanced US & International Patent Search	$900
SP09	Patentability Opinion	Normal level Legal Patentability Analysis of the closest prior-art patents (usually within a few days, DOES NOT INCLUDE A SEARCH)	$150
SP11	Advanced Patentability Opinion	Advanced level Legal Patentability Analysis of the closest prior-art patents (usually within a few days, DOES NOT INCLUDE A SEARCH)	$250
ICD3	Consultation	0.5 hr Consultation to help you assess and plan your best course of action	$80

What to expect after you order the patent search

The general process proceeds as follows:

Upon your payment being honored, we email you confirmation including instructions on how to securely submit your completed invention description form (questionnaire) to us confidentially. As an additional layer of protection, we can provide a signed confidentiality agreement (i.e., nondisclosure agreement, or NDA) covering the invention description you submit to us for patent searching. Note that Registered Patent Agents and Attorneys are obligated by law to preserve their clients' proprietary information in strict confidence, otherwise he or she can be permanently barred personally from ever practicing in patents or any other area of law. Moreover, all employees of Bay Area IP have signed nondisclosure agreements.
Your case will be assigned to a Patent Search professional credentialed according to the level of service procured (but, always highly competent in the mechanical, electrical, and computer arts), who will email you asking any additional information or clarifications if required.
An estimated completion date will be communicated to you (usually 1 week).
A patent search report will be generated and delivered to you by secure email. The patent search report contains the Patent Search results, soft copies of the references found, and is suitable to be presented to a Registered Patent Practitioner for a patentability opinion. Your patent search report is yours to do with as you see fit.
If we also received an order for a patentability opinion, then a Registered Patent Practitioner (usually the same person that conducted or managed the patent search) will render a patentability opinion and deliver their patentability analysis and advice to you (usually in a few days the patent search results are available).
After we deliver your patent search report and/or any ordered patentability opinion, we will not proceed to perform any further work until we receive instructions and payment for additional services you wish to procure based on the results.
The patents identified in the patent search report can be submitted in an information disclosure statement with your utility patent application as required by law.

This page includes information regarding low cost flat fee patent search service, prior art research, us patent search & patent research at the patent office, patent infringement research, free patent search in the u s patent database, and more generally:

US patent search, International patent search, free patent search consultation, an invention patent search, and a patent pending search.