Research Disclosure - The industry standard defensive publication service
Research Disclosure has PCT Minimum documentations status making it a mandatory search for international search authorities
About the database
The Research Disclosure database is an important search resource
The Research Disclosure database is an unique archive of non-patent literature which is acutely relevant to patent related prior art searches.
The records in the Research Disclosure database have been published intentionally to create formal prior art. They are not simply entertaining peer reviewed articles and they are not heavily worded long patent documents. They are concise clear invention disclosures which have been put in the public domain by top companies and inventors to stop others from patenting the disclosed invention.
As research disclosures are generally published as patent blockades they regularly appear in patent related searches. This is clearly reflected by the extraordinary number of citations Research Disclosure receives; a recent search of the USPTO's database revealed that Research Disclosure has been cited over 15,000 times.
How unique are the records found in the Research Disclosure database?
Research disclosures are rarely published in more than once place. For instance if a company pays to publish in Research Disclosure they know it will be sent to and searched by every patent office in the world hence it is unnecessary for them to go to the trouble and expense of publishing it elsewhere.
And remember; patents cannot be granted on inventions first published in Research Disclosure so you are unlikely to findthem in any patent archives.
Patent offices across the world consistently search Research Disclosure
If you need proof of the relevance of Research Disclosure to patentability searches you need only to look to the Patent Offices worldwide and the way they have all embraced the Research Disclosure database.
Every patent office in the world receives Research Disclosure. In the US on top of an electronic subscription the USPTO requires 35 copies of the monthly paper journal, in Europe the EPO have paid for the Research Disclosure database to be included in their internal EPOQUE network which offers all EU examiners convenient access to the database.
Patent examiners are in fact required by mandate to search Research Disclosure. Why? Research Disclosure is included in the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) minimum documentation list. This is a list of the most important non-patent prior art sources in the world and the journals included in this list must be searched before the grant of any PCT patent.
If you are performing a prior art search before submitting a patent application and you know that the patent examiners will search the Research Disclosure database, shouldn't you be searching it too?