Can patent pendings be searched?

Question

I know patents can easily be searched. But is there a way to search patent pendings?

Answer 1

Brad: You need to be aware that some patents are not published in the database at:

http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

An applicant can file a request for non-publication and those applications will likely never publish unless they issue as a patent.

Answer 2

Once you have applied for a patent you can commercialize the product with a "patent pending" claim on it. The intellectual property would be safeguarded by the date on which the patent was applied on, NOT by the claim of "patent pending". So, it would be perfectly safe to apply for a patent and immediately thereafter commercialize the product, almost every company out there does that. In order to use the "patent pending" claim you must FIRST have applied for a patent, if you commercialize the product BEFORE you have applied for a patent, then that would invalidate your patent application because now the product or concept is in the public domain and you can't patent anything that is public knowledge.

Answer 3

Yes.

http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

You can search on patents as well as patent applications.

Answer 4

You may find it here. But, I not going to look through all this to find it for you, sorry.
http://www.uspto.gov/