Value Delivered
The discovery of significant prior art provided essential support in resolving the patent dispute. This evidence led to the subject patents, which the product was allegedly infringing, having to amend their claims.
The proactive approach of uncovering invalidity details allowed for early adjustments to the claims, thereby avoiding potential legal challenges.
Problems Solved
Capturing the exact structure of a semiconductor device presented significant challenges. Standard claim term searches yielded largely irrelevant results, leading to the abandonment of this approach after examining 40% of the patents due to low relevance. Image-based search attempts were also unsuccessful because most results postdated the cut-off date. The lack of relevant discoveries after extensive search efforts created a sense of potential futility in finding suitable prior art.
Solution Offered
When 50% of the search efforts proved unfruitful, the focus was redirected to the preliminary search output. It was observed that a significant number of relevant patents in this domain originated from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Prioritizing the exploration of non-patent publications from TSMC led to the discovery of pertinent information. Additionally, it was found that TSMC was originally part of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). Therefore, examining ITRI’s publications prior to the cut-off date was included in the strategy.
This shift in focus proved pivotal and ultimately led to the identification of critical prior art.
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