How it works
Prior art is bigger than patents alone. Much of what can defeat a patent application was never patented at all, and a search built only for patent databases is built too small. PatentabilityCheck was built with that reality in mind: it is the working method of a registered patent practice with over 20 years in patent law, run the same way every time, with a verification pass that no reference can skip and a practitioner's review that no report can skip.
Plainly, for those who want to know how it is done: the firm's search system, developed from two decades of professional patent search practice, uses advanced AI-assisted tools to analyze each disclosure and query the same databases patent examiners use. Every candidate reference and the full written assessment are then reviewed and approved by the firm's registered patent practitioner, Dr. David F. Underwood, before delivery.
1. Purchase and describe your invention
Checkout is handled by Stripe; we never see your card details. The moment payment completes, you receive a private, single-use submission link on screen and by email. The link admits exactly one submission and expires after 30 days.
Your disclosure is the raw material for the search, so write it plainly and completely: what the invention is, what it does, how it works, what problem it solves, and what you believe is new about it. You can attach up to five figures (JPG, PNG, or PDF); drawings, diagrams, and photos all help.
2. Your invention, understood
The search system reads your disclosure and figures the way a practitioner does: it identifies what is actually inventive about your idea and where the invention lives in the international patent classification system, the same classifications a patent examiner would search for an invention like yours. Getting this step right is what separates a professional search from a keyword guess, and it is the step most amateur searches never perform at all.
3. The search
The search runs across the same databases patent examiners rely on, and more, covering granted patents and published applications worldwide. Prior art is bigger than patents alone, and the search is built to reflect that. The result is a wide net, cast the way two decades of practice say it should be cast.
4. Verified, then written
Before any reference can appear in your report, it is verified against its authoritative source record, and its description is checked against what the reference actually says. A reference that fails verification is dropped. Nothing unverified appears, ever.
The written assessment then covers the questions that decide patentability: novelty (35 U.S.C. § 102), obviousness (§ 103), subject-matter eligibility (§ 101), and industrial applicability, using only the verified references. Every reference is linked to its source document so you can read it yourself.
5. Reviewed and approved by the practitioner
The finished draft then goes where no automated service takes it: to the desk of the firm's registered patent practitioner. Dr. Underwood reviews the draft against your disclosure and either approves it for delivery or sends it back for further search and analysis. Only an approved report is ever delivered, and the approval line on the cover, with his name, USPTO registration number, and the date, is your record that it happened.
6. Delivered, then deleted
Your approved report is delivered two ways at once: a download button on your status page and an email to the address from checkout. Delivery is promised within one business day of your submission; most reports arrive sooner.
Delivery starts the purge: your disclosure, your figures, all intermediate data, and the report file are permanently deleted from the platform. Your data is retained only as long as the search and the practitioner's review require. The firm keeps its own record of the delivered report, as any law firm does.