Original Date of Publication: 17th May, 2010 A patent search, in simple words, is an exercise of mining granted patents and published patent applications (patent documents) that are related to a subject matter of our interest. A patent search helps in making decisions under various scenarios. It helps determine, patentability of a subject matter, freedom to operate and validity of a patent, among others. More often than not, a patent search is conducted to determine patentability of a subject matter for which…