A patent registration process is long, complex, requires a lot of effort, and money.

The first and one of the keys to a successful registration process, in which the patent application get approved, is the search phase. The importance of the search is derived from the process itself. As the patent application is evaluated, the patent office examiner will conduct a search to determine if to approve or deny the specific application.

The examiner, as his name indicates, is tasked with examining whether to approve or deny the patent application. He studies it thoroughly and checks if it has the innovation and inventiveness progress required to be eligible for patent protection. This search is essentially a comprehensive search in any piece of information known and available to the human kind (previous patents, other patent applications, articles, products, any other form of publications, etc...).
If the examiner search reviles prior publications of the invention which deem the invention not innovative, the application is denied. If not, and only after the examiner feels that all search options were exploited the application is approved and patent protection becomes available to the inventor.

By now you should be very clear about the reason and the importance of conducting a preliminary, in-depth, search for your patent before even starting the patent application process. If you can discover prior publications now, before you apply for a patent, you might be able to modify your application documents to better reflect innovation and inventiveness progress. On the other hand if your invention is just not new, you are saving hundreds and thousands of dollars by avoiding a failed patent applciation process.
If the preliminary search shows that there are no prior publications, it is still extremely useful because it feeds inputs into the process of creating the patent application document, in which the inventor needs to balance the need to define exactly what the invention does and the need to have the broadest claims possible.

Discovery and study of prior publications from the field of invention, as unrelated to the specific invention as they may be, points the inventor in the right direction when preparing the patent application documents in such a way that maximizes the chances of his patent application getting approved.

The search for prior publications is complex because it is supposed to cover the knowledge of the entire human race combined. In order to perform a good perliminary search one needs a lot of knowledge, information and expertise in multiple areas: 1) being familiar and having access to the many sources of information in which the search should be conducted. 2) expertise in the specific field of the invention in order to know what to look for and how to compare the finds with the invention. 3) experience in conducting searches effectively and efficiently using vast amounts of information in many languages.

In today's information age the search becomes both easier and harder at the same time....
Easier because the internet and other online databases are available and are at our fingertips.
Harder because the amounts of information that requires searching is growing exponentially by the year due to the high rate of technological and scientific progress.
The amount of information that is available which the search needs to cover is vast, almost unimaginable.
The expertise and deep knowledge for each and every field and industry is so extensive that any one person cannot have all of them and a whole team of academy graduate experts is required to appropriately address the issue.
The clear conclusion is that only a company with many employees and specialized teams with academic education in various fields and industries, that is experience in searches, locating data and analyzing it, can guarantee a professional and thorough search for your invention.

Primary reasons to perform patent search before committing to the patent application process:

• Not loosing money in lengthy patent application processes in case the invention is not new
• Improved quality of patent application documents, specifically the claims
• If an inventor requests expedited review of his invention he is required to present a search report
• Prevention of lawsuits in case other patents are violated as part of the invention
• Business intelligence
• Learning a specific field before inventing in production lines and products to better aim where there is less chance of patent infrengement.
• Investors require search reports in order to move forward and apply for patents on any invention.