zorobar
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Services to verify software against existing patents
Greetings, are there businesses/services for verifying a software application/process against existing patents? for possible violations/infringements.
David Johnson is right, that is never going to happen (unless it is a Scam). You are asking a machine to understand the meaning of words and sentences and images well enough to compare them against others that are likely using different words and images. People don't do all that well at that.
ASKER
David J and David B, appreciate the feedback. How about businesses you can hire to perform such services? Are you aware of any?
Yes, they are called patent lawyers and they are very expensive. This page http://mercatus.org/publication/number-patents-has-exploded-1982-and-one-court-blame shows that there were 325,407 patents applied for in 2014 and the article says that most were for software. You should realize that even when you are granted a patent, you will still have to hire lawyers to enforce it. The government does nothing but make an official record of it.
ASKER
Thanks Dave. If you are buying a software company, what type of "guarantee" would you expect from the seller when it comes to ensuring that the software you're buying isn't violating any existing patents? if the deal is valid and to the best of everybody's knowledge, there are no issues, is that all you can work with or do you/can you ask for more?
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I greatly appreciate the feedback gentlemen. Thanks again.
That is what the USPTO is supposed to do.. and they are very fallible.. Issuing patents for items that are not by definition patentable. The not checking for prior art...