So there’s no requirement that you’d actually go out and search the patent databases or do a Google search to actually determine what’s in the prior art. But there is a requirement that if you do prior art searching and come up with information material to patent ability that information, material to patentability, must be disclosed to the patent examiner so that it can be taken into consideration during the patent examination process. So it’s important to know that there isn’t a requirement to actually search for the prior art but what you find has to be disclosed to the patent office. And if you don’t disclose things to the patent office that you’re aware of it can render your patent unenforceable.

I would just add to that that form my perspective as a patent attorney even though there’s not requirement to search for prior art, it’s probably the best thing that you can do to not waste your money and to get a good high quality patent. Because I know that when I draft a patent application if I can have what I think is the closest piece of prior art in front of me as I’m drafting the patent application I can draft a patent application that is tailored to distinctions between the invention and the prior art. And if I haven’t done that search then I’m kind of flying blind and I’m trying to guess at what those distinctions might be.

So it does cost some money to do some prior art searching. You do have to disclose the prior art to the patent examiner, but at the end of the day, you’ll have a stronger patent. You’ll have a patent that’s more likely to be enforceable, and you have a better chance of actually getting something useful out of the patent process instead of finding out during an examination but when the examiner was searching for prior art that your invention has already been done exactly in some prior art patent.