There are a lot of different reasons you might search patent literature. If you're an inventor, you may be doing a 'prior art' search to determine if your invention is new and non-obvious. (If someone has already patented your invention, or there are sufficient similar inventions to make your invention obvious then you cannot patent your invention.)
Patent searching is also a good way to keep up with technology and innovation in a field more generally, either as an inventor/entrepreneur or for research purposes. You might also be searching for who a patent belongs to if you're going to need to use a particular invention and need to license your use.
The PTRC Representatives are happy to talk to you in more depth about patent searching. You can contact us by email at lib-ptrc@osu.edu.
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