We search Canadian and USA patent office databases for existing technology.  To get started, please call us at:

416-239-1361

or from outside the Toronto area call us at:
1-800-266-3844

If you plan to manufacture or import a product, someone else's patent may become a source of liability. Check and see if there are any existing patents covering all, or part, of a product before manufacturing or importing it.

To find out if your idea is already patented, let us perform a patent search for you.  Chances are that there is something out there that will limit the boundaries of what you can claim as your invention.  After all, most patent applications just describe improvements on existing technology, which has not yet been commercialized.  

GOOD NEWS:

In the USA, title C of Patent Law, No. 106-113, provides a limited defense against patent infringement to inventors who developed and used a business method prior to that method being patented by another party.

We offer full text and class by class patent searches of inventions on the US and Canadian patent databases.

We have online access to US patents issued since 1790 and to Canadian patents and applications filed since 1922.  Patents filed in the past 18 months in Canada or elsewhere are secret and may cause future surprises.

Business method patent searches are available from $999 + HST.
Food Supplement formula patent searches are available from $999 + HST.
High-tech mechanical engineering patent searches start from $899.00 + HST.

Prices will vary, as some areas of technology have a plethora of issued and pending patents.

One of our searchers, David Michaels, J.D., B.Eng., has a 4 year Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He has programming experience in C and Fortran. He has studied business at York University and patent law at McGill University. He has a Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) degree from the University of Honolulu School of Law.

Note: Exhaustive searches may run as high as $20,000 - especially when trying to debunk a patent in popular areas of technology.

Patentability and infringement opinions may be given after a search has been completed, for an additional fee. Prices depend on the issues to be examined.

The Canadian Harmonized Goods and Services Tax (HST) does not apply to patent searches for non-Canadian clients, however, it does apply to efiling their Canadian patent applications.