Prior Art, Novelty & Landscape
Find out it's already been claimed now — not after you've paid to file.
A prior art search is the cheapest honest step in the whole patent process, and the one most often skipped. We search the patent databases and the peer-reviewed literature together — because in life sciences the thing that destroys your novelty is very often a paper, not a patent — and we tell you plainly what we found.
What's included
Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Novelty & patentability search
Is this already claimed? We search IPO, USPTO, EPO and WIPO alongside PubMed and the wider literature, then give you the closest art we found and our technical reading of how close it actually is.
Freedom-to-operate (FTO)
Different question, different search. Not "can I patent this" but "can I sell this without infringing someone else" — essential before you commercialise a formulation, a process or a diagnostic.
Patent landscape & white space
Who is filing in your area, what they are claiming, and where nobody has been. Used to steer R&D spending, prepare licensing conversations and answer investor diligence.
Searched by scientists, not keyword clerks
Life-science prior art hides behind synonyms, strain designations, sequence identity and mechanism — not just words. Searches are run and read by people who know the biology.
Literature searched alongside patents
Your own conference poster or thesis can be the prior art that kills your application. We look for that too, including your own prior disclosures, and tell you if we find a problem.
A plain-English verdict
You get the hits, the closest art, and a clear technical view — not a 200-page database dump for you to interpret alone.
Program options
Multiple tracks. One tailored plan for you.
Searches are fixed-scope and fixed-quote once we know the technology area and the question you are asking. Tell us whether you need novelty or freedom-to-operate — they are genuinely different searches and confusing them is expensive.
Novelty / patentability search
Before you spend anything on drafting.
Freedom-to-operate search
Before you commercialise.
Patent landscape report
For R&D direction, licensing or investor diligence.
Search + technical opinion
The search, plus our scientific reading of the closest art.
Fee Structure
Fixed scope, fixed quote — and a straight answer.
Tell us what the invention is and what decision the search has to support. We will confirm which search you actually need, quote it, and deliver the closest art with our technical view of it. If we find something that clearly anticipates your idea, we will lead with that rather than bury it — the point of a search is to save you money, not to sell you the next step.
- Patents and literature — searched together, not separately
- Read by scientists — synonyms, strains and mechanism, not just keywords
- Bad news delivered early — that is what you paid for
A search reduces risk; it can never eliminate it. Unpublished applications stay hidden for eighteen months, so no search anywhere can be exhaustive. Manna Biotech provides scientific and technical analysis only — legal opinions on validity, infringement and filing strategy must come from a registered patent agent or attorney.
FAQ
Common questions.
What is the difference between a novelty search and freedom-to-operate?+
A novelty search asks whether your invention is new enough to be patented. A freedom-to-operate search asks whether making or selling your product would infringe somebody else's live patent. You can be perfectly free to operate and still unable to patent, and you can hold a patent and still infringe someone else's. They are different searches with different scopes, and you should be clear which one you need.
Can a search guarantee my patent will be granted?+
No. Patent applications stay unpublished for eighteen months, so there is always art that nobody outside the applicant can see yet. A good search substantially reduces your risk and tells you where you stand — it cannot promise an outcome, and anyone promising one is overselling.
Do you give a legal opinion on infringement?+
No. We give a scientific and technical analysis — what the art discloses, how close it is, where the differences lie. Legal opinions on validity and infringement fall under Section 129 of the Patents Act and must come from a registered patent agent or attorney. We are careful about that line and will tell you when a question has crossed it.
I am a PhD scholar, not a company. Is this relevant to me?+
Very much so. Scholars and their supervisors regularly publish work that could have been protected, and lose the option permanently. If you think there may be something patentable in your thesis, get the search done before you submit the paper — after publication, in most cases, it is simply too late.
Get started
Before you file — or before you publish — find out what's already out there.
Share a few details and our team will reach out within 24 hours with a tailored plan, syllabus, and fee structure — no obligation.
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