Patent Family Search
A Patent Family Search locates foreign and local patents that relate to the same invention -
or in patent attorney speak - relate to the same basic (or priority) application. As the various
data providers only index published application details, the family data is updated as new family
members are published and the data provider gathers the information.
This search is conducted when a patent or patent application number is known and it is necessary to
find whether applications for the same invention have been made in other countries - often called a
convention filing.
In its most basic form, the Patent Family Search looks for applications around the world that share a
priority application number. However, our Patent Family Search service not only includes this most basic
approach but also includes searching on applicant names, inventors names, titles and priority dates in order
to locate non-convention equivalents.