IPA patent 6.1.11.5-conducting-the-search — IP Australia Patent Manual of Practice and Procedure – 6.1.11.5 Conducting the Search

Also in this Chapter: 6.1.11.1 Overview - Novelty / Inventive Step 6.1.11.2 Inventive Step 6.1.11.3 Searching Product by Process Claims 6.1.11.4 Dates Searched ​​​​​​​ 6.1.11.6 Useful Techniques (‘piggy back/forward’ searching) 6.1.11.7 Obtaining Full Copies 6.1.11.8 Considering and Culling the Documents 6.1.11.9 Ending the Search 6.1.11.10 Categorising the Citations 6.1.11.11 Grouping the Claims ​​​​​​​​ Related Chapters: 4.3.6 Applicant and/or Inventor Name Searching ​​​​​​​ 4.4.3.3 Non-Patent Literature 4.5 Conducting the search 6.1.10 Non-Patent Literature 6.1.16 Assistance with Foreign Languages 6.9.5 Examiners with Foreign Language Capabilities Once a search strategy has been agreed upon by the 3 person team, the search examiner immediately carries out any aspects of the search strategy where it is practicable to do so. These aspects of the search may include searching using free tools such as Espacenet , subscription tools such as AbS and STN the AU collection using APST or a non-patent literature search. See 6.1.10 Non-Patent Literature and 4.4.3.3 Non-Patent Literature . Note that in many cases, an applicant/inventor name search will also be required. The 3 person team is responsible for determining, during the development of the search strategy, whether one of the identified exceptions in 4.3.6 Applicant and/or Inventor Name Searching applies. The search strategy should be regularly reviewed during the search process, taking interim search results into account. See 4.5 Conducting the search . For abstracts in a foreign language where the search examiner requires assistance with that language, the examiner may either: use the services of a suitable examiner (see 6.1.16 Assistance with Foreign Languages and 6.9.5 Examiners with Foreign Language Capabilities ) use an online translation tool.