If a Patent Application is filed, can anyone guarantee that a patent grant will be received?
Anyone who “guarantees” that a patent grant will result is being disingenuous at best as there is no guarantee that a patent will be ultimately obtained. The primary factors which may complicate the patent procurement process include the existing applicable art (or “prior art”) coupled with the desired claim breadth (broadly drafted claims vs. narrowly drafted claims) an Applicant wishes to obtain.
To help provide a more accurate understanding of the prior art, it is the view of many patent practitioners that a thorough patent search should be performed initially as such a search will usually uncover a substantial amount of prior art that is applicable to an invention.
After reviewing the patent search report, an Applicant will be more accurately apprised of the likelihood of a patent grant and the appropriate level of claim breadth. However, it must be stressed that a patent examiner may uncover additional prior art references or assert combinations of prior art references (in an obviousness rejection) which were not contemplated previously.