IP skills · Patent searching
Patent Search Course: How to Learn Prior Art Searching
Patent searching is finding the prior art that decides whether an invention is new, and what others' patents cover. Here is what a search course should teach, the free and paid ways to learn it, and what Wysebridge offers.
What patent searching is
Prior art is everything that was public before an invention's effective filing date: patents and published applications anywhere in the world, papers, products, websites and talks (35 U.S.C. 102(a)). A patent search looks for the closest of it. Examiners do the same search during examination, so a good search before filing tells you what the examiner is likely to cite.
There are different searches for different questions. A novelty or patentability search asks whether an invention is new and non-obvious. A freedom-to-operate search asks whether making a product would infringe someone's in-force claims. A validity search tries to invalidate an issued patent. A landscape search maps who is patenting what in a field. The tools overlap; the scope, the documents that matter and the analysis afterwards do not.
The core skills are the same for all of them: building keyword sets, using the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), following citations backward and forward, reading claims rather than titles, and recording what you searched so the result can be trusted.
Who needs to learn it
Inventors and founders
A quick search before paying for an application can save the filing fee, or sharpen the claims.
Patent agents and drafters
Claims are drafted against the closest art; you cannot do that without finding it.
Patent analysts and searchers
Professional search is a career of its own, at firms, search vendors and companies.
R&D and product teams
Early landscape searches show where a field is crowded and where it is open.
What a good patent search course covers
A complete course moves from what counts as prior art, through the tools, to reading and reporting what you find.
- 01
What counts as prior art
Effective filing date, the 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) categories, the 102(b) exceptions, and non-patent literature.
35 U.S.C. 102; MPEP 2150–2155
- 02
Types of search
Patentability, freedom-to-operate, validity and landscape searches: the question each answers and which documents matter.
- 03
Breaking down the invention
Turning an invention into concepts, synonyms and the problem it solves before touching a database.
- 04
USPTO Patent Public Search
The USPTO's search tool for U.S. patents and published applications, which replaced PatFT and AppFT in 2022: fields, operators and saved searches.
USPTO Patent Public Search
- 05
Classification searching
Finding the CPC groups that fit the invention and searching them to catch documents that use different words.
MPEP 900; CPC
- 06
Citation searching
Following the references a document cites, and the later documents that cite it.
- 07
Foreign and non-patent literature
WIPO PATENTSCOPE, Espacenet and Global Dossier for foreign documents; scholarly databases and product literature.
- 08
Reading and charting results
Reading claims and dates, mapping each claim element to a reference passage by passage.
MPEP 2131, 2141
- 09
Documenting the search
Recording sources, queries, classes and dates so the search can be repeated and its limits understood.
- 10
Limits of a search
Why no search is exhaustive, and why freedom-to-operate and validity conclusions need a legal opinion, not just a list of hits.
Ways to learn patent searching, compared
Patent searching is one of the few IP skills you can learn largely for free. The paid options add structure, depth and feedback.
How Wysebridge covers patent searching
Wysebridge does not sell a stand-alone patent search course. Searching is covered in a free tutorial and in parts of our courses.
Both courses are also included in Wysebridge ONE.
Course · 20 chapters
U.S. IP Law
$297 per course, or $397 with the certificate track
What makes prior art novelty-defeating or obviousness-making, and how patent analytics and landscapes inform portfolio decisions.
- Ch. 9 The Four Gates: Novelty, Non-Obviousness, Utility, and Eligibility
- Ch. 15 Thinking in Portfolios: Patent Analytics and Strategic Management
Course · 16 modules with the Practice Lab
Patent Drafting & Prosecution Practicum
$297
Plan a documented search for a case invention, then triage and date the references you find.
- M4 Patent landscape and search strategy
- M5 Prior-art triage and dated references
Patent Bar prep · MPEP chapters
Patent Bar exam program
Patent Bar Monthly or Patent Bar One-Pay: $189/month or $594 one payment
The exam tests what qualifies as prior art and how examiners apply it, which is the legal half of searching.
- MPEP 900 Prior Art, Classification, and Search
- MPEP 2100 Patentability
What we do not offer: a paid search service, or freedom-to-operate opinions.
Frequently asked questions
Related
Sources
- USPTO: Patent Public Search replaces four legacy tools (2022)
- USPTO: Patent and Trademark Resource Centers
- USPTO: Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)
- WIPO Academy: IP eLearning courses
Checked October 2026. For education and general information; not legal advice.
Understand what a search is looking for.
U.S. Intellectual Property Law teaches novelty, obviousness and the patent system that searching serves.