Foundation Certificate Course on Patent Prior Art Search & Analysis

From an Invention Idea to a Defensible Prior-Art Search

Patentability does not begin with drafting a patent application. It begins with understanding what has already been disclosed.

The Foundation Certificate Course on Patent Prior Art Search & Analysis is a practical introduction to the principles, tools and methodology required to identify, retrieve, screen and analyse prior art relevant to an invention.

The course is designed to help participants move beyond simple keyword searching and develop a structured approach to patent research. Through guided demonstrations, practical exercises and case-based assignments, participants will learn how to convert an invention into searchable concepts, construct effective search strategies, navigate major patent databases, identify relevant patent and non-patent literature, examine citations and patent families, and prepare a professional prior-art search report.

What You Will Learn

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the role of prior art in patentability assessment
• Break an invention into searchable technical concepts and features
• Develop effective keyword, Boolean and classification-based searches
• Search patent databases such as Google Patents, WIPO PATENTSCOPE, Espacenet and Indian Patent Office resources
• Use synonyms, alternative terminology and technical language to improve search coverage
• Identify relevant patent documents and non-patent literature
• Analyse patent claims and compare them with identified prior art
• Use citations, patent families and related-document information to expand a search
• Distinguish potentially relevant documents from merely similar documents
• Organise search findings into a structured prior-art search report

Course Curriculum

Module 1 — Patent & Prior-Art Fundamentals

Build the conceptual foundation required before conducting a prior-art search.

Topics:

• Introduction to patents and patentability
• What is prior art?
• Prior art vs. prior publication vs. patent document
• Novelty and the relevance of prior art
• Understanding claims, specifications and technical disclosures
• Types of prior-art sources
• Patent documents vs. non-patent literature
• Search objectives and scope definition

Practical Exercise:

Read a sample patent claim and identify the technical features that need to be searched.

Module 2 — Converting an Invention into a Search Strategy

Learn how professional searchers translate an invention into searchable concepts.

Topics:

• Understanding the invention before searching
• Feature extraction and claim decomposition
• Identifying essential and non-essential features
• Keywords, synonyms and technical terminology
• Broad, narrow and alternative expressions
• Boolean operators and search logic
• Building an initial search matrix
• Designing a search sequence

Practical Exercise:

Convert a hypothetical invention into a structured search strategy and keyword matrix.

Module 3 — Patent Database Search Techniques

Develop hands-on familiarity with major patent-search platforms.

Topics:

• Google Patents
• WIPO PATENTSCOPE
• Espacenet
• Indian Patent Office search resources
• Basic database navigation
• Keyword and phrase searching
• Field-based searching
• Applicant, inventor and publication-number searches
• Combining search terms efficiently
• Filtering and narrowing search results
• Recording and documenting search strings

Practical Exercise:

Conduct a guided search across multiple patent databases using the same invention.

Module 4 — Advanced Prior-Art Discovery

Move beyond obvious keyword results and learn how to find documents that may otherwise be missed.

Topics:

• Patent Classification Systems
• CPC / IPC-based searching
• Citation searching
• Backward and forward citations
• Similar-document searching
• Patent family identification
• Inventor and applicant-based expansion
• Assignee and technology-based searches
• Iterative searching and search refinement
• Identifying terminology used by the patent literature

Practical Exercise:

Start with one relevant patent and build a broader prior-art search using classifications, citations and related documents.

Module 5 — Prior-Art Analysis & Search Reporting

Learn how to convert search results into a professional analytical output.

Topics:

• Reading patent documents efficiently
• Identifying relevant disclosures
• Claim-feature mapping
• Comparing claims with prior-art documents
• Relevance screening and categorisation
• Identifying the strongest prior-art references
• Recording publication details and dates
• Preparing a prior-art search table
• Structuring a professional search report
• Communicating search limitations and findings

Practical Exercise:

Prepare a mini prior-art search report for a given invention, including search methodology, selected documents and feature-level analysis.

The Search Workflow

INVENTION

Understand the technical problem and proposed solution

↓

DECOMPOSE

Break the invention into searchable features

↓

SEARCH

Use keywords, classifications, citations and related documents

↓

SCREEN

Filter relevant and potentially relevant prior art

↓

ANALYSE

Compare disclosed features with the invention

↓

REPORT

Present the findings in a structured professional format

Practical Learning

This is not designed as a purely theoretical introduction.

Participants will work with real patent databases and practical invention scenarios to understand how a prior-art search is actually conducted.

The practical component will include:

Search Strategy Exercise

Develop keywords, synonyms and search combinations from an invention.

Database Search Exercise

Conduct searches across multiple patent databases.

Citation & Family Exercise

Trace relevant patents through citations and patent families.

Claim Mapping Exercise

Compare selected prior-art disclosures against claim elements.

Final Search Assignment

Prepare a structured prior-art search report based on a given invention.

Course Highlights

Foundation-to-Practice Approach

Build the fundamentals before progressing to actual search and analysis.

Multi-Database Exposure

Work with widely used patent-search platforms including Google Patents, WIPO PATENTSCOPE, Espacenet and Indian patent-search resources.

Search Strategy Training

Learn how professional searches are constructed rather than relying on a single keyword query.

Classification & Citation Searching

Understand how CPC/IPC classifications, citations and patent families can expand a search.

Real Patent Documents

Develop familiarity with actual patent publications and claims.

Report-Based Learning

Learn to present search findings in a structured and professionally usable format.

Hands-On Assignments

Each major learning stage is reinforced through practical application.

Certificate of Completion

Participants who successfully complete the course requirements receive a certificate.

Who Can Apply?

• Law students and law graduates interested in Intellectual Property
• Patent professionals and aspiring patent analysts
• Engineering and technology students
• Science, biotechnology and pharmaceutical students/researchers
• Patent agents and IP professionals seeking stronger search skills
• Researchers and innovators who want to assess existing patent literature
• Academicians working in technology, innovation and IP
• Startup founders and R&D professionals involved in technology development

What Makes This Course Different?

A prior-art search is not simply a matter of typing the invention's title into Google Patents.

The quality of a search depends on how the invention is understood, how its features are converted into search concepts, how the search is expanded, and how the resulting documents are analysed.

This course therefore focuses on the methodology behind the search—giving participants a repeatable framework they can apply to different inventions and technology domains.

Expected Outcome

Participants completing the course should be able to independently undertake a foundation-level prior-art search, document their search process, identify relevant patent literature, perform preliminary claim-feature comparison and prepare a structured prior-art search report.

Course Format

Duration: 5 Sessions

Mode: Live Online

Session Duration: 90–120 minutes

Practical Component: Guided exercises + final assignment

Level: Foundation

Certificate: Certificate of Completion

Learn the Search. Read the Patent. Analyse the Art.