Before you draft, file, defend, or license a patent, you need to know what’s already out there. Synoptic IP’s search and analysis services combine AI-assisted tools with subject-matter expertise to map prior art, competitive landscapes, and technology trends — covering everything from novelty and invalidity search to chemical, biological, and multilingual search.
Patentability/Novelty Search
Synoptic IP’s novelty/patentability search combines a human-led methodology with AI-based tools to identify the closest prior art before an application is filed, delivering smart and comprehensive mapping with expert commentary on each reference. The report helps inventors and attorneys decide whether an invention is worth pursuing and how broadly or narrowly to draft claims, reducing wasted prosecution time and cost. Backed by 12+ years of experience and 4,000+ searches performed annually across 70+ countries, it gives clients an evidence-based starting point for patent strategy.
Patent Invalidity Search
Synoptic IP’s Patent Invalidity Search combines exhaustive keyword, classification, and citation-based searching with AI-driven semantic search to uncover prior art that can challenge the validity of a competitor’s patent claims. Conducted by patent engineers averaging six years of domain experience, the search includes a search proposal, smart mapping of key features against prior art, and expert commentary on the strength of each reference for building an invalidity contention. This gives attorneys defending an infringement allegation a stronger negotiating position and a well-documented basis for challenging an asserted patent.
Freedom-to-Operate (FTO) Search
Synoptic IP’s Freedom-to-Operate Search identifies active patents whose claims could bar a client from making, using, or selling a product or practicing a method in a given territory, helping guide product design and licensing decisions before launch. Deliverables include risk-classified patents, claim chart mapping against the client’s product, current legal status, and multilingual coverage across 12+ languages, with quarterly updates available. The service gives businesses a clear, attorney-client-privileged roadmap for avoiding infringement risk as they bring new products to market.
Invalidity Contention Claim Charts
Synoptic IP prepares invalidity contention claim charts that map identified prior art references against the specific claim elements of an asserted patent, a standard requirement in patent litigation for formally presenting an invalidity position. This service supports attorneys building a defense against infringement allegations by translating search results into the structured, element-by-element format courts and opposing counsel expect. Clients benefit from Synoptic IP’s broader patent search expertise applied specifically to the litigation-ready claim chart deliverable.
Non-Patent Literature Search
Synoptic IP’s Non-Patent Literature (NPL) search surfaces relevant prior art from scientific journals, theses, product documentation, and public disclosures such as social media and datasheets — sources that are often available well before a patent publishes. This is valuable for opposition and litigation matters, infringement and licensing analysis, and strengthening searches like patentability, landscape, or due diligence, and is used by R&D teams, universities, inventors, and litigation parties alike. Synoptic IP conducts these searches in more than ten languages with input from academic and industry subject-matter experts to ensure thorough coverage.
Markush Structure Search
Synoptic IP’s Markush Structure Search locates patent documents covering families of related chemical compounds defined by variable substituents, going beyond simple chemical structure search to capture broad functional-moiety coverage. It helps clients uncover compounds not identifiable by common or IUPAC name alone and strengthens related searches such as landscape analysis, freedom-to-operate, patentability, and invalidity searches. With 1,200+ chemical structure searches performed annually using paid databases like STN and multi-level quality checks, the service supports R&D, litigation, and IP protection efforts in chemistry-driven fields.
Knock-Out Validity Search
Synoptic IP’s Knock-Out Validity Search is a streamlined assessment of patent and non-patent art that may undermine a patent’s claims, designed to quickly flag prior art the examiner may have missed. It is typically used when evaluating a portfolio for acquisition, launching a licensing campaign, preparing multi-patent litigation, or when time and budget don’t allow for a full validity search. The service gives businesses a faster, lower-cost first-pass validity check to inform litigation or licensing negotiation strategy.
Foreign Language Search
Synoptic IP’s Foreign Language Search extends prior art searching beyond English-language patents using a dedicated team fluent in 15+ languages, including Mandarin, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian. Because English-only searches can miss substantial amounts of relevant patent literature, this service draws on 200+ techno-legal professionals across fields like ICT, life sciences, chemistry, and electronics to deliver more complete, in-depth results. It’s used by R&D organizations, universities, individual inventors, and law firms seeking global patent coverage.
Custom Patent Search
Synoptic IP’s Custom Patent Search is a flexible, criteria-driven service built for clients whose needs fall outside standard search types, applying tailored strategies to identify the most relevant databases and sources for a specific objective. Companies, law firms, R&D teams, and inventors use it to scope future applications of a technology, benchmark competitors, build decision-maker dashboards, or scout emerging solutions to a specific problem. The service adapts Synoptic IP’s search expertise to bespoke research questions that don’t fit a predefined search category.
Design Patent Search
Synoptic IP’s Design Patent Search focuses on the ornamental, visual aspects of a product rather than its function, using targeted design classifications and search terms to uncover prior art or potential infringers within a technical domain. Results are ranked by relevance — Identical, Nearly Identical, or Related — and delivered with a final report and expert opinion to support decision-making. It serves businesses launching new products, companies asserting or defending design rights, and industries like electronics, automotive, fashion, jewelry, and packaging where product appearance carries commercial value.
Chemical Structure Search
Synoptic IP’s Chemical Structure Search identifies patent and non-patent literature citing specific chemical structures, including compounds, functional moiety variations, and chain structures, serving pharmaceutical, chemical, and biochemical R&D and IP teams. Performing over 2,000 such searches annually using specialized paid databases like STN, the team analyzes structural similarities and substitutions to strengthen related searches such as landscape analysis, FTO, patentability, and invalidity. The service helps clients protect novel chemical entities, support R&D decisions, and monitor competitive activity in chemistry-intensive industries.
Biological Sequence Search
Synoptic IP’s Biological Sequence Search uncovers DNA, RNA, protein, and other biological sequences embedded in patent and non-patent literature, using BLAST-based alignment to compare a client’s sequence against known prior art. It supports FTO clearance, licensing due diligence, and infringement or enforceability analysis by determining whether a claimed sequence is novel or an obvious variant of existing art, making it valuable at both early prototype and pre-commercialization stages. Synoptic IP draws on proprietary scripts and databases like STN, Orbit, Derwent Innovation, and GenomeQuest, serving Fortune 500 companies, research labs, and law firms working with antibodies, primers, and therapeutics.
New Application Scouting
Synoptic IP’s New Application Scouting identifies untapped commercial and technical applications for a company’s existing technology or patent portfolio, supporting market expansion, licensing, and open-innovation strategies. Drawing on a team of 250+ techno-legal experts and techniques like IPC/CPC classification, assignee, and citation searches, the service helps clients find new markets and partners for innovations they already own. It’s aimed at businesses and research institutions seeking to boost the return on their existing IP rather than starting new R&D from scratch.
Patent Summary
Synoptic IP’s Patent Summary service distills complex patents — identified through portfolio analysis, IP audits, due diligence, or prior art searches — into clear, accessible overviews that translate technical and legal language for broader teams. Clients use these summaries to track portfolio developments, assess how findings affect R&D direction and competitiveness, and keep inventor and legal teams aligned without requiring everyone to parse full patent documents. Synoptic IP produces over 2,000 patent summaries annually with multiple layers of quality assurance.
Technology Scouting/White-Space Analysis
Synoptic IP’s Technology Scouting service helps organizations look beyond their own R&D by identifying external technologies, innovators, and solutions that align with their strategic goals, supporting licensing, collaboration, and portfolio-building decisions. Covering 25+ industries and drawing on a network of 1,000+ researchers and specialists, the team sources and organizes technical data from academic, patent, and non-patent sources, then clusters and rates technologies using Synoptic IP’s own classification system. It’s designed for companies that need to stay competitive amid rapid technological change without innovating entirely on their own.
Patent Landscape Analysis & Search Report
Synoptic IP’s Patent Landscape Analysis gives clients a data-driven overview of how a technology or industry sector is evolving, surfacing competitors’ filing strategies, emerging opportunities and threats, potential M&A targets, and white-space areas for R&D investment. It supports decisions around market entry, R&D direction, portfolio expansion, and licensing, using fully automated, manual, or hybrid methodologies with customized dashboards and taxonomies tailored to both executive and technical audiences. Landscape projects include regular updates and can incorporate non-patent literature, giving clients an ongoing, strategic view of their competitive and technological environment.
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