Conduct Robust FTO Search With Assistance From Professionals At Our Company
- sagaciousipresearc
- Dec 16, 2020
- 4 min read
Every company conducts an extensive search for patents whenever they are trying to launch a new innovative product. To plan, develop, and launch a new product is a major risk, especially in the technology sectors. Suppose any issue regarding imitation of the patent is observed. In that case, commercialization of the product being launched may be blocked by the owner who holds the patent for the technology within the product that is being imitated.
It is for this reason that companies seek to hold the freedom to operate search that ensures that commercial production, marketing, and usage of any product or service does not infringe the IP rights of any other company or its products. A business owner can never attain a guarantee of freedom to operate, but there are ways to minimize the risks of the same. This can help the company save some of the significant resources.
1. Searching For Patent Documents
An FTO search for a patent usually begins with searching for patent literature to issue the pending patents and obtain legal opinions on whether a product, process, or service is being considered to infringe any other patent owned by another entity. Various law and IP firms offer such services of analyses, and these firms consider FTO search to be a legal service for their clients. Sagacious IP research is one such popular company working on a global level with a lot of commitment and care. While conducting an FTO search, patent attorneys or owners of the concerned products must keep in mind that there are also some limitations on the patents that offer quite a lot of opportunities.
2. Clearing Obstacles Of FTO Analysis
A freedom to operate patent search or analysis is based on a search of patent literature, which is the beginning. If it is revealed from the patent search that there are one or more patents that limit a company’s freedom of operating, then the organization has to decide on how to operate. Blocking a patent may be a viable option. There are three ways of blocking a patent:-
Purchasing The Patent- The step is also called licensing in. This consists of obtaining a written document of authority from the holder of the patent for allowing the usage of patented technology for certain specific acts in several specified markets, and that too for a specified period. While there are chances of loss of autonomy, in this case, it is one of the simple ways of getting grounds cleared for the commercialization of innovation.
Cross-Licensing- In this process, two or more companies are found to exchange licenses so that they can make use of certain patents that any other parties are owning. For being able to cross-license, a company needs to have a well-protected portfolio of a patent that is of value to the partners of potential licensing.
Inventing Around- This is another option of clearing barriers about the invention. This implies steering research and making changes to the process or product to avoid infringement on patents owned by several others. For instance, if the freedom to operate is brought to limit by a particular process, then a company shall be able to develop a process that is alternative for arriving at a similar conclusion. This would help in the proper commercialization of the patented product without even needing to pay a fee for licensing to someone else.
Patent Pools- With the help of this mechanism, two companies that practice-related technologies put the patents that establish a clearinghouse for the rights of the patents.
3. Protecting The Technology
If a patent attorney finds a patent search where there is no blocking access to the market along with certain new technologies that shall meet the patentability criteria, a business owner can ask for patent protection for the latest technology, which ensures a greater degree of freedom for operating rather than keeping a trade secret. There is a clear limit in terms of the extent to which a patent owner exercises freedom of operating.
A patent cannot itself obtain rights of commercialization of the protected technology to prevent commercialization by others. The distinction seems to be subtle but is an essential one. An FTO search is a particular reason why some of the companies apply for the protection of patents. The grant of a patent is not sufficient in particular for clearing sort of commercialization. It is a useful step that can prevent problems at later stages.
4. When Is An FTO Search Cost-Effective?
Since freedom to operate search cost is high, a business owner must know the objectives of the business and assess the risks for the same. While undertaking an FTO search, the company shall think properly about how they would handle the results. The company or the concerned business owner shall determine whether they would walk away from the main product or continue to work on the same even though they receive unfavorable results. Despite receiving negative results, the results obtained shall not be suitable if the organization goes ahead. The analysis will also not be cost-effective. The company should also be aware of the risks of litigation and possibilities that it will require to cater to sufficient resources for defending itself.
With the help of FTO analysis, a valuable role is served in IP analysis. With the help of this strategy, a company can minimize, identify as well as manage risks quite frequently while identifying areas where the coverage of patent is quite thin and absent for presenting opportunities.
Our company is doing a great job in conducting robust FTO search and analysis for the clients. The professionals have immense knowledge about every aspect of freedom to operate search, making it easy for companies filing a patent to understand whether the invention is authentic. Most of the companies consider the level of FTO analysis according to the acquisition of new products and in light of their budget and risk tolerance. Experienced patent attorneys, our company always takes care of the same in the case of our clients.
Comments