Novelty, and we’re not talking x-ray glasses

When most people think of novelty items, they are envisioning the trinkets you buy at a party store for a gag birthday gift.  But, medical device intellectual property is no laughing matter.  In patent parlance, novelty refers to whether an invention is unknown or not used before being filed with the patent office, and is non-obvious.  Patent law experts can provide a better legal description of novelty than myself, but from a practical standpoint, I’m more interested in helping doctors gain preliminary insight into the novelty of their ideas?

There are basically three areas to consider:

(1)  is there a similar marketed product?

(2)  has someone else published part or all of your idea in a public forum?

(3)  has another inventor filed a patent that covers portions of your idea?

Hopefully, you are an expert in the field of your invention, so you should be knowledgeable of the currently approved related devices.  Taking a walk around the exhibit hall at your specialty’s annual conference can also provide useful insight on related devices.  That makes #1 easy, except keep in mind that some devices are marketed in other countries and may not have been approved yet in your area.  A Google search can surprisingly turn up unexpected products.

Finding relevant publications is not always easy, but you no doubt have access to electronic medical journals in your field.  Also, consider using PubMed and narrow down relevant abstracts, before potentially purchasing articles online.  Presentations in public forums are even more difficult to track down unless there is a written abstract to the presentation.  But, if it is not documented in a written form, it is unlikely to be an issue.  Keep in mind that publications are not necessarily scientific articles, but could be any written, audio or visual documentation that is not confidential.

The last area, patent filings, often gets left for the intellectual property attorney, but I recommend that you learn to perform preliminary searches.  A simple search can be done using Google Patents.  You are not attempting to make legal determinations, but to gain some sense of your invention’s uniqueness and how “busy” the space appears.  A more in-depth search can be performed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website, searching both issued patents and published applications. Concentrate on the specification section to learn of various contemplated design embodiments.  The legalese can be a little fatiguing, but patents teach useful background information along with specific embodiments, and are worth the effort.

I am no patent attorney and reviewing the three areas identified will not guarantee that your invention is novel.  But, you are not trying to see through walls… just gain confidence that your idea is worth further investment.