Search patent landscapes and prior art

patentpluginsetup L2★17,464

What it does

Search patent prior art and assess freedom to operate

Best for

Inventors and counsel assessing novelty or freedom-to-operate before filing when prior-art search signals must be high-confidence.

Inputs

· Sub-use-case selector: novelty search / FTO / competitive landscape / acquisition diligence / litigation prior-art
· Invention description or product details

Outputs

· Editable Word document (.docx) with verdict, ranked closest art, claim-text extracted
· CPC-class-aware landscape analysis
· Family-resolved hit analysis
· Geographic coverage (if multi-jurisdiction)
· FTO flags (if applicable)
· Strategy recommendations
· Full audit log with sources

Requires

Preconditions

· Forcing intake (Q1-Q5) must lock down sub-use-case before search runs
· Invention description must be clear (claims-like language helps)
· FTO analysis may require counsel consultation (skill produces signals, not legal advice)

Failure modes

· Closest-art ranking can miss family patents if database coverage is incomplete
· CPC classification can be inaccurate for emerging tech (depends on USPTO/Espacenet quality)
· Citation-graph signals via Lens.org are optional and may be stale (BYOK only)

Trust signals

· Source spec in PR #657 (megaprompts/11-patent-megaprompt.md)
· Multi-source (Google Patents + Espacenet + USPTO + optional Lens.org) for triangulation
· 5 sub-use-cases (novelty/FTO/landscape/diligence/litigation) drive distinct search strategies
· DOCX output is editable and source-tracked
· Explicit disclaimer: 'Search signal, not legal advice' — user owns counsel consultation