Freedom to Operate Search
A Freedom to Operate (FTO) search, also known as an infringement or clearance search, is a thorough analysis to determine whether a product, method, or service may infringe on existing intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks, or copyrights.
Purpose of search
- To discover any potential road blocks in the marketing or launching a new product or service
- To take calculated decisions before investing in the marketing of a product before launching it in a desired jurisdiction
- To identify intellectual property right owners in the desired jurisdiction for intellectual property agreement such as patent licensing
- To ensure that the product or technologies complies with relevant intellectual laws and regulations
- To take strategic decision: FTO searches give essential information that can help drive strategic decisions about product development, marketing, and investment in a jurisdiction. Companies may utilize the search results to assess the competitive environment, evaluate market prospects, and make educated resource allocation choices.
- To help avoiding litigation: By identifying potential risks upfront, companies can take steps to minimize their exposure to legal disputes and protect their interests. If a similar product is found in the searches, then companies can alter some features of their product (if possible) to avoid possible infringement litigation.
FTO searches give essential information that can help drive strategic decisions about product development, marketing, and investment in a jurisdiction. Companies may utilize the search results to assess the competitive environment, evaluate market prospects, and make educated resource allocation choices.
Problems associated with FTO search
- Inability to understand the product or services of the company: Sometimes it becomes tricky to describe the product or services in exactly, due to which the search results miss the potential patents.
- Incomplete or outdated databases: The incomplete or outdated databases lead to the possibility of skipping potential patent or non-patent documents.
- Complexity of patent landscape: Patent landscapes are complex and confusing, particularly in areas with significant technical breakthroughs. Identifying all relevant patents and comprehending their significance may be difficult, even with advanced search engines.
- Vagueness in patent claims: Patent claims can be vague or broadly worded, making it difficult to determine whether a product or technology infringes upon them.
- Risk of litigation: Even after FTO searches, there is always the possibility of missing important patents or misinterpreting their scope. This can make businesses exposed to lawsuits and legal conflicts, which can be costly and harm their brand.
We provide solution to all the above listed problems which occurs at the time of conducting the Freedom to Operate search, our efficient team has been conducting the FTO search from several years. We have served clients in many countries. Our team consists of subject experts of all field of science and technology. We carry out the FTO search in best possible way, providing you all possible live patents or other intellectual properties which can hamper the launch of your product in the jurisdiction.
We say: Clear the path to innovation: Unleash the potential of your product with our freedom to operate search!
Our team conducts the successful FTO searches in the following manner:
- Understanding the product or service to make a product-description, Understanding the technology area, the geographical regions of interest, and the specific features of the product which makes the product unique.
- Making key words and key string using the product description for conducting the jurisdiction specific alive patent search. Our experts use many paid databases and uses various filters to reach to the best possible results.
- Searching other non-patent publications or products in the same jurisdiction.
- Focusing on the claims of relevant patents to see their scope and potential similarity with the product or technology. Paying attention to claim language, variations, and various interpretations of the claims.
- Analysing the search results, comparing the claims of the found live patent with the product description. Mapping the similarities between the product and claims of found patents.
- Documenting all findings and analyses in a report.
We provide best in class FTO search in best possible time and cost. Our clients have praised our work time and again in their testimonials. We will be very happy if we can help you out in any query related the FTO search.
.jpg "IIP Search")
.png)
.png)
