Our Freedom to Operate (FTO) patent search service helps identify potential patent barriers to commercializing your products or technologies. This due diligence process examines the claims language of third-party, in-force patents to assess your risk of possible infringement. An FTO search aims to identify in-force patents or published patent applications with claims that cover the technology, process, or product you are targeting.
THE PROCESS
The Freedom to Operate service process gives you transparency and insights into any limitations your intellectual property may face. It concludes if a proposed commercial product or process may be made, used, sold, or offered for sale without infringing another party’s intellectual property rights.
Obtaining an FTO report can be very beneficial as a preemptive measure to defend a company in patent litigation against assertions of willful infringement and exposure to potential damages. By minimizing litigation risks, an FTO opinion can also minimize potential investors’ concerns about the marketability of the company’s product, process, or service.
The goals of conducting an FTO search include:
- Support the clearance of your products, technologies, or processes
- Conduct patent infringement risk assessments
- Uncover licensing needs
- Provide direction for your product development program
Our FTO search Service includes:
- In-force patents
- Published pending patent applications
- Expired patents (as potential clearing documents)
- Performance of broad, full-text searches on patent databases in your particular countries of interest
Ready to get started?
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Freedom to Operate News & Resources
The Supreme Court Just Let an Abandoned Patent Application Kill Real IP. Here’s What That Means for Patent Holders.
At the center of this case is a gap in U.S. patent law that doesn’t get much attention outside of litigation circles, but that every patent holder should know about: the enablement standard for getting a patent granted is meaningfully different from the enablement standard for prior art used to challenge one.
You Just Entered Your Invention Into a Public Chatbot. Congratulations — You Just Disclosed It!
Imagine spending years developing a proprietary framework. Something genuinely novel. Something you believe in enough to protect. Then imagine a federal judge looking at your trade secret claim and saying, in plain terms: you gave it away yourself. Not to a competitor. Not through careless conversation at a conference. You gave it away to the AI tool you trusted to help you build it.
From the Desk of Customer Success
Instead of relying only on titles and abstracts, teams can use Synopsis AI to get a stronger sense of what is actually in a document before committing to a full read. That makes it easier to validate relevance, prioritize the right materials, and keep projects moving.
