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State of the Art Search

Identify the technological advancements in a specific field to inform R&D direction and innovation strategies with expert-led State of the Art search

What is a state of the art search?

A State of the Art (SOA) search, also called a Collection search, is conducted to assess the existing technical advancements in a particular field. It identifies prior art relating to a certain technology or technology area, and provides insights regarding the patentability of an invention, infringement risks, evaluation of the inventive step, among others.

State of the art search vs patent landscape — which one do I need?

While a State of the Art (SOA) search and a Patent Landscape Report (PLR) may both cover broad technology areas, a PLR typically provides a higher-level overview, focusing on statistical insights and market or innovation trends across a wider domain.


A state of the art search, on the other hand, usually takes a more focused approach: examining a specific aspect or subtopic within that broader technology space.

Why conduct a state of the art search?

Research and development

Inform your R&D strategy by identifying the latest advancements and potential areas for innovation. Identify areas of active research, emerging technologies, and gaps in existing knowledge. A thorough analysis of prior art helps identify alternative solutions to a technical problem.

Competitive Intelligence

Gain a competitive edge by understanding the current technological landscape and positioning your products or services accordingly. As a kind of technology overview, a state of the art search can provide valuable insights on what technology areas competitors are actively pursuing.

IP Management and Strategy

Optimize your intellectual property portfolio by identifying gaps, avoiding infringement, and uncovering licensing opportunities. Make well-informed decisions regarding market entry, partnerships, and overall business strategy based on the latest technological trends.

Client Success Story

Patent Landscaping for AI-powered health analytics startup

Read more
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Why Parola Analytics?

Get in touch

Expert-led patent search

A dedicated US-registered patent attorney or subject matter expert, leading and supervising your patent search projects to ensure high quality results.

Cost-effective, flexible arrangements

At Parola Analytics, we are committed to finding the best solutions with our clients. Customize solutions that suit your requirements, budget, and easily integrate them with your workflow.

Easy-to-navigate reports

Concise, easy-to-navigate prior art search reports and claims mapping charts that provide you with a clear visual presentation of relevant disclosures.

Collaborative approach

Communicate directly with our patent research analysts at any point to fine-tune your search.

What our clients are saying

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“The first search Parola Analytics, Inc. performed for us provided the key reference supporting our invalidity position on a patent we were evaluating.”
Sean M. Dean, Ph.D.
Fish & Richardson
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“Vincent and his team at Parola are excellent at locating prior art. We have worked with Parola on two matters, and both times, Parola delivered outstanding results. Parola’s highly-relevant search results and reports demonstrated a thorough understanding of the patent claims.”
Daniel Kiang
Knobbe Martens
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“Vincent Violago and his excellent team at Parola Analytics provide high quality, detailed, prior art search results with minimal oversight and handholding. These guys are highly educated and experienced in their field and work together with great efficiency. The work product is top-notch, and they are always available for follow up, including detailed discussions of the report and additional pinpoint searches based on the results. I highly recommend Vincent and his team.”
James A. “Tripp” Fussell III
Mayer Brown
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"Parola analysts uncovered prior art that even opposing counsel’s team could not during litigation. The quality of their work and deeper understanding of the subject matter were instrumental to the case that we eventually won.”
Saqib J. Siddiqui
Mayer Brown
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“The team at Parola Analytics did an excellent job in providing us with the highest-quality prior art research service.
The team’s search report highlighted the best prior art references with an easy-to-understand format. In short, the team proved itself.”
Ryan Phelan
Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP
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“I recently engaged Parola Analytics to conduct a prior art search on a difficult US patent that had already stymied another search firm that delivered two unusable references.
Parola found four much better references in two weeks that demonstrated a deeper understanding of the search and an effective selection of the best references.
I highly recommend Parola Analytics.”
Barry Shelton
Shelton Coburn
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“Parola Analytics is our trusted partner for prior art search contests on PATROLL, Unified Patent’s crowdsourcing platform.
With their expertise in prior art searching, Vincent and his team at Parola Analytics are valuable partners in reviewing prior art submissions to our contests.
Parola Analytics provides broad knowledge across various subject-matters and offers competitive pricing.
They are easy to work with and are responsive to our needs.”
Sam Jaffna
Unified Patents
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“In just weeks, our investments in our relationship with Parola Analytics started to pay handsome dividends. Parola Analytics identified a patent filed by researchers at Yale that showed promise as a vaccine against malaria. Our article, authored by Monisha Ravisetti, was publicized in hundreds of newspapers and magazines worldwide and quoted thousands of times on social media. Parola’s flexibility proved invaluable for a startup company like ours, and the reasonable fee structures allowed us to invest in the relationship with confidence.
Marius Meland
Founder, Law360
CEO and Founder, Fastinform
Man in a dark suit and light blue shirt with a patterned tie, smiling at the camera against a neutral indoor background—perfect for your patent and prior art search professional profile.
“Parola Analytics has consistently provided excellent search results coupled with an easy to navigate and detailed search report. Parola’s responsiveness and communication are exceptional. I highly recommend Parola.”
Chris Hadley
Jones Waldo
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“Parola Analytics is an outstanding resource for our boutique intellectual property firm. Patentability searches are the first step for new patent clients. Vincent and his team take care of this crucial step, and provide us with high-quality and comprehensive search reports. The search reports provide our clients with a clear visual representation of the state-of-the-art and make our counseling even more impactful. Our patent practice is enhanced by Parola Analytics’ search capabilities, and our favorite find is Parola Analytics.”
Justin H. Cross
HamiltonCross LLP
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“Parola Analytics was able to quickly provide us with a key prior art reference despite other search vendors failing to find anything useful. Parola’s thorough search report also provided detailed analysis and allowed us to easily assess the viability of the references and efficiently create invalidity contentions. Would highly recommend.”
Luc Dahlin
Goodwin Procter
A man with short black hair, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and tie, smiles at the camera against a plain gray background—ready to assist with your patent and prior art search needs.
“It was an absolute pleasure working with Parola Analytics. Vincent Violago is very responsive and professional. He answers all your questions and ensures the right person does the search. The patentability report provided is very visually pleasing and easy to follow.
The searcher (who is a PhD chemist and registered US Patent Agent) took great care to understand the claim language of a biotech invention prior to doing the search. A very thorough search was done in a timely and efficient manner. I highly recommend Parola Analytics for patentability searches.”
Imtiaz Billah
Torrey Pines Law Group PC
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“Parola Analytics is the perfect fit for us, start-ups. They offered us the flexibility we needed for our unique needs. We received high quality results fast at competitive prices.”

Alfredo Carranza
i6 Technology
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For small IP firms looking for a reliable patent research partner, Parola is the perfect choice. Parola Analytics has consistently delivered high-quality results in the various patentability and design patentability projects we have worked on. They have a very collaborative and hands-on approach to each project. The researchers have vast experience and IP knowledge which allows me to get results well-aligned with my specifications.
Tom Tatonetti
Tatonetti IP

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