Why search Russian and USSR patents? - Historically, Russia has a very strong and extensive prior art portfolio with a large number of patents relating to heavy machinery, medicine, chemistry, and aerospace. Until 1991, Russia was virtually a closed country, thus the volume and significance of the Russian prior art was, and still is, generally unknown to  foreign IP professionals and inventors. Russian and USSR patent documents (except those filed under the PCT procedure) are rarely translated to English. Besides, unlike other patent offices, the Russian Patent Office does not provide free public access to its patent databases and registers, hence driving barriers even higher.

 

Russian patent search is an obvious step if searching US/European/Asian prior art does not yield relevant results. In some cases, it can be a real game changer in terms of assessing patent validity or patent infringement litigations.

 

Please see below a full list of patent search types provided by our company.

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Number Search

This is the simplest type of patent search, involving searching and retrieving patents or patent applications, based on definitive information, such as document number, title, name of the applicant(s) and/or author(s), international patent classes (IPCs), etc. Due to its simplicity, number search usually takes up to 1-2 hours only.

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Patentability (Novelty) Search

The main aim of this type of search is to determine whether a concept is patentable over relevant prior art. This search is advantageous to perform as it saves the applicant both time and money before entering filing and examination procedures. It also allows for better drafting of the invention by providing insight on necessary amendments and alterations. This type of search usually takes about 5-10 days.

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Patent Validity Search

This type of search is partly similar to the patentability (novelty) search in terms of assessing novelty and non-obviousness, which are the key requirements of patentability. Patent validity search is useful when a patent holder is willing to assess the "strength" of a given patent before its enforcement or when an accused infringer wants to ascertain the validity of an asserted patent. This type of search usually takes about 5-10 days.

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Freedom to Operate (FTO) Search

This type of search focuses on uncovering existing prior art, similar to the product or technology entering a local market. The main purpose of the FTO search is to avoid infringement suits, resulting in costly litigation proceedings, which may eventually force the company to withdraw the product from the market. It can also be used to uncover pending patent applications that, if eventually issued as patents, might be unintentionally infringed by a given product or technology. This type of search usually takes about 10-15 days.

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Cost

For a full list of fees, please refer to our Schedule of Fees or contact us to receive an accurate estimation for your particular search case.

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Frequently Asked Questions

- What is the actual result of a patent search? - Upon completion of a patent search, our client is provided with a comprehensive search report, containing a list of found documents with their full copies, relevant text parts (both in English and Russian), and, depending on the type of search, written opinion or instructions.

 

- Can you translate several patents from my search report? - Of course we can! Ruspatents LLC provides accurate and fast Russian patent translation service for all types of patent documents and non-patent literature (incl. translator's affidavit, if requested). Please contact us to receive an accurate estimation for your order.