Patent Watch Law and Legal Definition
Patent watch is a process of monitoring newly issued patents. This practice is usually followed by corporations engaged in the manufacturing businesses. Patent-based businesses do a patent watch on a periodic basis to see if any of the newly issued patents might be of their interest.
Patent Watch helps to identify new patents granted by the PTO, and encourage grassroots activities against such patents. It also helps to initiate and support legal challenges against existing and future patents.
Results of patent watch are often circulated among related technical people to determine if any newly issued patents are beneficial, or of any interest to the company. If the technical team opines that a company is infringing the patent, the company can avoid patent infringement law suits by modifying its products or designs, seeking a license from the patentee or by researching and finding out if the patent is actually valid.
In the U.S., there are many organizations that provide patent watch services.