# Patent search log

Copy and edit this blank template for your own research. Keep completed records locally or in your team's approved storage. A search log records work and remaining gaps; it does not establish patentability or freedom to operate.

## Search session

- Research question:
- Purpose (technical background / prior-art research / rights review):
- Researcher:
- Search date and time zone:
- Database or service:
- Countries / jurisdictions:
- Patent types:
- Languages checked:
- Relevant date boundary and reason:
- Database coverage / update information shown:

## Query run — copy this section for each search

- Run identifier:
- Exact query as entered:
- Search fields:
- Country, applicant, date and classification filters:
- Sort order:
- Result count shown, or "not recorded":
- Whether the service reported partial results or an error:
- Candidate documents selected:
- Why these candidates were selected:
- Next query change and reason:

## Document record — copy this section for each candidate

- Full publication identifier, including kind code:
- Application number (if separately confirmed):
- Title:
- Applicant as shown:
- Publication date:
- Source URL and access date:
- Document version (publication / grant / other):
- Relevant claims, paragraphs and figures:
- Feature being compared:
- What the original text states:
- Similarities:
- Differences:
- Translation used and passages checked against the original:
- Related family members checked separately:
- Legal-status source, update date and events checked, if relevant:
- Remaining questions:

## Coverage and handover

- Databases, languages or date ranges not checked:
- Queries that returned no results and alternative terms tried:
- Unavailable full texts / uncertain identifiers:
- Candidate documents requiring specialist review:
- Facts verified versus working assumptions:
- Next action and responsible person:

Do not infer that an invention is new or safe to use merely because no result was found. Keep a patentability inquiry separate from a market-specific rights assessment.

Guide: https://cnipa.ai/blog/patent-search-log-template