Prior-art search
Gather references published before your priority date to assess novelty and inventive step.
When to use this
Before filing a new invention, you want to find the most similar references published before your priority date (or planned filing date) so you can pre-check whether novelty or inventive step would be rejected.
The two levers are time (priority date cutoff) and similarity. The most efficient flow is to paste the inventor's tech description into the LLM as-is and just clip the time window.
Recommended LLM prompt patterns
Use the patterns below as-is, or swap in variables that match your case. Each prompt is paired with the FindIP tool the LLM will call internally.
1. Baseline — invention description with a date cutoff
Prompt
"For the invention below, find the 10 most similar KR / US / JP patents published before the priority date 2024-12-01, and summarize claim 1 and the abstract of each. Also assess whether each reference defeats novelty (full vs partial match). [Invention] (paste the inventor's description here)"
Tools: search_patents(filing_date_to="2024-11-30", country_codes=["KR","US","JP"]) → get_patent_details(sections="claims,abstract")
2. Expand to synonyms and near-paraphrases
Prompt
"In the solid-electrolyte field for suppressing Li dendrite growth, pull 8 applications filed before the priority date 2023-06-15. Include English and Japanese variants such as 'dendritic crystal', 'lithium dendrite suppression', and 'Li metal anode'."
Tools: search_patents (semantic search auto-expands synonyms)
3. Carve out specific inventors / applicants
Prompt
"In this field, compare the 5 most similar filings each from SAMSUNG SDI and LG Energy Solution filed before the priority date 2024-01-01."
Tools: applicant_resolve → search_patents(applicant_entity_ids=[...], filing_date_to=...)
4. Candidates for combined references on inventive step
Prompt
"Pull the single top-similarity primary reference plus 3 secondary-reference candidates that, combined with the primary, could defeat inventive step — all before the priority date."
Tools: search_patents (widen top_k, then compare distance scores)
Reading the results
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The 1–3 hits with the highest similarity (score) scores are the decisive novelty threats. Compare claim 1 directly.
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Even for a Korean inventor, English JP / US references are often the stronger citations. Make 5-jurisdiction search the default.
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A reference filed before your priority date but published after it cannot be cited. Always check
publication_dateon every hit.