A product or process will be considered as an invention under the Patents Act only if it is novel and inventive. Novelty simply means newness based on what is existing as of the priority date of the patent application. An invention will be considered to be novel if it is different from what is already existing, which is referred to as ‘prior art.’ Novelty is always assessed in the light of a single prior art reference at a time, and prior art references are not combined for novelty analysis....

People dealing with the search and authentication of patents may be very acquainted with the term prior art search. A prior art search is conducted to find out whether there is the existence of any kind of evidence that could render a patent valid or invalid. There exist three types of prior art searches in real, and they are completely based on the purpose they serve. These searches are novelty search, freedom to operate search, and the invalidity search. With the help of a provisional patent a...