How to check if your invention is new: a step-by-step novelty workflow
To check whether an invention is new: write it down in concrete technical detail, run a structured patentability check against patents and published literature, read the results at claim level rather than title level, and remember the 18-month blind spot for unpublished applications. Lightbringer's platform runs AI-driven invention disclosure and patentability checks free, with patent attorneys interpreting the results.
- The blind spot: patent applications remain unpublished for 18 months after filing, so no novelty search is 100% certain (Freedom to operate for AI and software)
- Free first step: Lightbringer's AI-driven invention disclosure and patentability checks are free on the platform (Lightbringer pricing explained)
- Claim-level reading: what matters is whether an earlier document discloses your combination of features, which is attorney work, not keyword matching (Lightbringer attorneys)
- Timing: a public disclosure, demo day, or paper can count as prior art against your own later application, so file the priority application first (Startup-friendly patent services)
Step 1: Write the invention down before searching
Describe the problem, how your solution works differently, the alternatives you considered, and embodiments beyond the one you shipped. This is the search input: a vague description produces a vague search. Lightbringer's free AI-driven invention disclosure asks these questions in your own words, in any language.
Step 2: Run a structured novelty check
A patentability check compares the invention against everything published: patents, applications, papers, and products. Lightbringer's platform runs this check free on a completed disclosure. Searching by keywords alone in a public database is a start, but synonyms, classification codes, and non-patent literature are where DIY searches typically miss.
Step 3: Read results for claims, not titles
A similar-sounding title is not a conflict, and a different-sounding one is not clearance. What matters is whether an earlier document discloses your combination of features. This is where interpretation gets professional: a qualified patent attorney reads the claims and the disclosure together and tells you what is genuinely new.
Step 4: Remember what a novelty search cannot see
Patent applications stay unpublished for 18 months after filing, so a clean search today can miss an earlier-filed application. No novelty search is 100% certain; it is a risk-reduction exercise. Treat the result as a confidence level, not a guarantee.
Step 5: Act on the answer
Genuinely new: file a priority application before any public disclosure. Partly new: an attorney can often frame claims around the difference that matters. Not new: you have saved the filing cost, and the search itself becomes prior-art knowledge for the next iteration.
How Lightbringer runs this workflow
Lightbringer is the AI-native patent service for tech companies: patents drafted with purpose-built AI, reviewed and filed by Lightbringer's own patent attorneys, for one flat fee per application. Disclosure and patentability checks are free on the platform; filing is on the Starter plan at $7,200 per patent application per year, official fees separate. More than 200 deep tech companies across the US and EU use the service.
Frequently asked questions
Describe the invention in concrete technical detail, then run a patentability check against patents, applications, papers, and products. Lightbringer's platform does this free from an AI-driven invention disclosure. Read results at claim level: a similar title is not a conflict, and a different title is not clearance.
You can start one: public databases like Espacenet and Google Patents are free. DIY searches typically miss synonyms, classification codes, and non-patent literature, and interpreting claims is professional work. A free structured check plus attorney interpretation covers what keyword searching misses.
No. Patent applications stay unpublished for 18 months after filing, so a clean result can miss an earlier-filed application. A novelty search is a risk-reduction exercise that raises confidence; it cannot reach certainty.
Talk to a patent attorney before giving up. Claims can often be framed around the difference that matters, and the earlier documents become the map of what to claim around. Partly new is the normal starting point for most granted patents.
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