Searches

Evaluate the feasibility of your projects, remain vigilant in your competitive environment.

Before protecting innovations with a patent, it is necessary to verify their patentability.

Lavoix’s Research Department puts its team of experts at your disposal to carry out prior art searches and technological and competitive monitoring.

Before a product goes to market or a process enters use, Lavoix will check whether it is dependent on any existing rights, or even evaluate a competitor’s patent.

The Lavoix Research team carries out scientific, technical and legal research, which will support the decision making process by providing IP advice in the context of patentability, freedom to operate, and validity studies.

The Lavoix research team carries out:

prior art
patent portfolio mapping (bibliometric and statistical analysis)
technological and competitive monitoring for patents
monitoring proceedings

FAQ

Why is it useful to monitor patent information?

Monitoring patent information means being aware of innovations in your field of activity.

Patent watch keeps you informed about the latest published patent applications, whether they come from your competitors or your industry.

As a core pillar of competitive intelligence, patent monitoring goes beyond protecting your inventions: it provides strategic insight to guide your decisions, anticipate trends, and identify new opportunities or threats.

To facilitate access and help you get the most out of your monitoring efforts, Lavoix has developed easywatch, a tool that centralizes, simplifies, and optimizes them, while offering fast and seamless access via our IP data² platform.

Why should you conduct prior art searches?

Conducting a prior art search means checking whether a similar invention has already been published or protected by a patent.

Depending on your needs, several types of searches can be carried out:

Patentability search: Assesses whether an invention is new and potentially eligible for patent protection.
Freedom to Operate (FTO) search: Aims to identify active patents or pending applications that could limit your rights to use, manufacture, or market a product or process in a given territory, thereby reducing infringement risk.
State of the art search: Provides an overview of existing solutions and technologies in a given field, serving as a decision-making tool to guide R&D, identify trends, or explore new innovation paths.

Prior art searches are essential to evaluate novelty, secure its exploitation, and support your decisions in innovation and intellectual property management.

How long does it take for a patent application to be published?

A patent application is typically published 18 months after its filing date or, if priority is claimed, 18 months after the earliest priority date.
Once published, the application becomes available in major patent databases maintained by national and international offices, such as those operated by the EPO, USPTO and WIPO.

Note: Publication is not a grant decision; it is only the formal public disclosure of the application and its technical content, while substantive examination and any eventual grant occur later.

Our team

PROFILES

QUALIFICATION

SKILLS

TECHNOLOGY AREAS

SECTORS

OFFICES