A structured approach to analysing prior art, technological positions, and competitive activity.

Patent search and mapping is an essential part of IP planning and portfolio management. It establishes a clear view of the existing technical landscape, identifies areas of concentrated activity, and highlights spaces where further innovation or protection may be required. The insights derived from this exercise help anticipate potential prosecution issues and challenges, understand competing portfolios, and support clients in taking informed decisions concerning filing, R&D alignment, licensing, and enforcement.

IIPRD’s patent search and mapping support covers a broad range of analytical tasks, including:

• Prior art identification across global patent and non-patent sources
• Technology mapping and clustering to organise disclosures thematically
• Comparative summaries between competing technologies or product families
• Portfolio-level analytics to understand strengths and gaps
• Competitor monitoring and filing-trend analysis
• Landscape reports for specific technologies or market segments
• Periodic updates to track developments in emerging or fast-moving sectors

Our technical specialists and patent professionals jointly review results to ensure that the analysis reflects both the scientific context and the legal relevance of the material. This allows the output to be used directly for internal discussions, drafting strategies, portfolio audits, or business planning.

1. Understanding the Technical Scope: Engage with client teams to define the search objectives, identify relevant features, and outline the technological boundaries of the study. This ensures that the search is accurate, relevant, and aligned with the intended application.
2. Search Strategy Development: Prepare structured search queries using keyword strategies, classification systems, citation networks, semantic tools, and jurisdiction-specific databases. Different approaches are combined to minimise blind spots.
3. Comprehensive Review: Manually examine the search results to filter, reorganise, and group relevant disclosures. This step captures nuances that automated systems may overlook.

• Curated list of prior art references
• Technology maps and structured result groupings
• Thematic summaries explaining technical overlaps
• Competitor-specific observations (if required)
• Optional periodic monitoring reports

A global electronics company engaged IIPRD to obtain a structured view of patent filings in a narrowly defined component-level technology relevant to its development roadmap. The team conducted a classification-based and citation-linked search, reviewed both patent and non-patent literature, and organised the findings into coherent technical categories representing active, emerging, and declining areas of innovation. The consolidated mapping enabled the client to plan its portfolio more effectively, identify subjects requiring additional filings, and align future R&D directions with trends observed across major jurisdictions.