Freedom-to-Operate/ Clearance Search
Freedom to Operate (FTO) search is conducted to mitigate the risks of infringement of patents in a particular region/country so that one can take a particular action, like launching, developing or producing a product, without infringing the IP rights of others.
This type of search is strictly a jurisdiction-based search that establishes whether or not, you can legally commercialize your product, targeting a specific market only. If your want to sell a product, it is important that you know for sure that your product will not infringe any other patented products in the market. Therefore, we always suggest a patent clearance analysis [FTO] of a product to be done before it is launched to be absolutely sure where the product stands. In a patent clearance analysis before the launch of the product, we search through various patent databases in search of patents your product may be infringing upon and give you advise accordingly.
At SNF, region country-specific comprehensive FTO searches are conducted by technical experts having extensive patent search experience along with various patent search strategies, wherein pending patent applications as well as granted patents are analyzed. An FTO opinion detailing on IP rights, IP law relating to a particular jurisdiction, expiry dates of the patents and assessing how the patented claims might be invalid is rendered to our clients. The FTO report is provided within 10 to 15 days.