Welsh Flaxman & Gitler is well regarded for applying our legal and technical training to provide legal professionals with results specifically suited to meet their needs. We utilize well developed manual searching skills and the latest research technology in locating U.S. patent prior art, international patent prior art and scientific literature relevant to all aspects of patent practice, including, but not limited to:
Infringement;
Right-to-Use/Freedom-to-Practice;
Validity;
Patentability; and
Collection and State of the Art.
In today's complicated world of Intellectual Property law, prior art searching is not a simple function of finding prior art. Many legal issues are constantly at play, ultimately determining which prior art is most relevant to the issue at hand.
For example, the recent changes in the patent laws have changed the way in which patent professionals practice law. The recent changes to § 102 have opened the potential application of previously unused prior art in the rejection of patent claims. Similarly, Festo has forced many attorneys to be proactive, attempting to anticipate the rejections an Examiner will apply and design claims to address the rejections before they are even made.
When new issues such as these are added to the already existing legal issues (infringement, validity, claim interpretation, patentability, etc.) which should be considered when a prior art search is performed, the need to know both the legal and technical qualifications of those individuals conducting your prior art searches becomes even more critical.
As practicing patent attorneys, we are well versed in the legal issues affecting patent practitioners and apply these legal principles in delivering search results. That is, we not only uncover prior art, but apply our legal understanding to identify prior art most relevant to the specific request. We provide you with the prior art we would like to see on our own desks.