The Business & IP Centre’s Research Service is a fee-based service where our team of experts can do research for you. The service is for those who may be unable to visit the library or where our expertise in desk research and the library’s collection and content would benefit your research request.
Our research services include:
Public Availability Date (PAD) searches: A date of public availability is a provable record of when a printed work would have been available to the general public, as opposed to only authors, publishers, and those with contractual early access like reviewers.
When the British Library receives and catalogues an item, it receives a dated stamp that marks the date on which the item enters the catalogue and can be ordered by readers. PADs are useful for certain kinds of intellectual property (IP), such as IP disputes to determine when a work was publicly available. PADs are generally ordered by law firms as part of the evidence for a case, however individuals can also order PADs if they need official documentation for the public availability of a published work.
Please note, we do not provide published dates, which can be provided by publishers.
If you need the PAD documents to be notarised by a legal professional, this can be arranged for an extra fee.
Patent searches: Patent and IP searches look at the full extent of published patents, current applications, and publicly available publications, to help determine the novelty, originality, and non-obviousness of an idea. These are generally divided into two types of focused searches: prior art and freedom to operate.
Business Research: Bespoke business research reports based on desk research sources can be conducted to your specifications. If you are trying to grow your business, expanding into a new market, or getting started in entrepreneurship, understanding the current business trends and markets is essential for robust business development.
If you cannot come into our reading room to do your own research, we are happy to conduct your research for you to your specifications and briefing. Let our Business & IP experts do the research for you!
Charges:
UK Customers: £108.40 +VAT an hour
Overseas Customers: £108.40
Payment is ordinarily by credit/debit card. Please note that we do not accept Amex cards. Or you can use your British Library Corporate accounts or can set up one.
Contact BIPC-Research@bl.uk for more information.