When i wanted to see if my brand name was taken i used Legal Zoom.........First i Domained the name......Amazingly it was not taken.........Legal Zoom did the search and all the work...........The rest is history...........
Legal Zoom also does Patent searches.............
They can " conduct a comprehensive patent search of a relevant Prior Art "....................So i agree with the posters tonight that the 23 lisensee's probably spent more money than i did to do a search....You do not dole out 2-20 million dollars if you believe that the IP is obovious...........Larry