NL Patent Office

How can I search to find out whether my idea is novel?

In order to be eligible for the granting of a patent right, your idea (technical proposal) must fulfil three requirements:

1. The proposal must be novel: it must not have been published or displayed anywhere in the world.
2. The proposal must contain an inventive step: it must not be obvious to a lay person.
3. The proposal must be applicable on an industrial scale: it must involve a specific product or technique.

You may use the Espacenet patent database in order to search to ascertain whether your idea is novel. This database contains around 60 million stored patent publications and can be freely accessed via our website.

If you require support in your search, you can request free search assistance. Our advisors will help you to find the right key words and classification codes that you can use to continue your search yourself.