Millions of patents. Thousands of ways to describe the same invention. One platform that understands them all.

Traditional patent search tools match keywords — which means they only find patents that use the exact terms you searched for. Overstand understands inventions at the concept level. It analyzes what your invention does functionally and structurally, then maps those concepts against the entire patent corpus to find relevant prior art regardless of the specific terminology used in each patent's specification.

The Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) outlines a structured approach to prior art search used by USPTO examiners: keyword brainstorming, keyword search execution, CPC classification-based search, backward and forward citation analysis, international database search, and search documentation. Overstand automates and enhances each of these steps, executing them at full corpus scale rather than the limited sample a manual search can cover.

Patents define their own terminology within their specifications — the same physical component or process can be described with completely different words across different filings. Overstand maps the functional and structural concepts behind patent language, building semantic relationships between terms. This means it finds relevant prior art even when inventors used entirely different vocabulary to describe the same invention.

Every invention has multiple elements that could serve as the basis for patent claims. Choosing which element to anchor claims on is a strategic decision that affects protection breadth, prosecution difficulty, and market coverage. Overstand analyzes the prior art landscape for each potential claim anchor, giving attorneys data-driven insight into the trade-offs — which elements have more existing prior art (larger market, harder to protect broadly) and which have less (easier to protect, potentially narrower market).

Yes. Overstand generates structured, exportable reports including comprehensive prior art findings with relevance scoring, full MPEP search methodology documentation, claim strategy analysis per inventive element, and prosecution roadmaps with anticipated examiner objections. These reports are designed to go directly into the patent file or serve as the basis for client consultations.

Overstand searches the entire active patent corpus — over 12 million active US patents and published applications, plus international filings. Unlike manual searches that review 300-500 patents from keyword results, Overstand's concept-level approach provides coverage across the full corpus, identifying relevant prior art across CPC classifications and jurisdictions that a keyword-limited search would miss.

Yes. Overstand extends search coverage across international patent databases, including PCT applications, EPO filings, and other major patent offices. International coverage is built into the standard search workflow, not a separate step — ensuring foreign filings are surfaced alongside domestic prior art.

A comprehensive prior art search that would traditionally take 5 or more hours of attorney time — covering keyword search, CPC classification, citation analysis, and international databases — completes in minutes with Overstand. The results include full methodology documentation and are ready for attorney review immediately.