On the API doc there is :
search_read(cr, uid, domain=None, fields=None, offset=0, limit=None, order=None, context=None)

I try with XML-RPC.

fields = ['email', 'phone', 'name', 'country_id'] 
args = [('is_company', '=', '1')] 
myresult = sock.execute(dbname, uid, pwd, 'res.partner', 'search_read',args, fields)

I receive an error message :

 AttributeError: 'res.partner' object has no attribute 'search_read'

(i tried with "search.read" as well. Same error)

However, my webservice queries are working fine with "search" and "read". So is there a problem with the documentation ?