Patent searches on behalf of your clients should be customised to meet your exact legal and technical requirements, should be delivered within your desired timeframe, and should leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of information that helps them make better IP decisions.
Our Freedom to Operate search service lets you add value: it gives your clients the intelligence they need to decide on their next steps when they want to make, use or sell a new product, regardless of where they might be in the product lifecycle:
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Early stages – Avoid infringements by modifying inventions to “design around” existing patents during the R&D process
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Late stages – Protect market entry plans by defining last minute design changes or pursuing a license prior to the product rollout
We understand the unique nature of freedom to operate searches, which means we don’t treat them like patentability searches. We’ll work with you to understand the key inventive features of the product that should receive emphasis during the search and to agree on a hierarchy of importance for the types of claims that you and your clients believe to be the most obstructive.
We also understand the relationship between claim breadth and product features and how infringement occurs in practice. When performing a search, we’ll look at broad claims that may encompass the key inventive features of their products, even if they aren’t specifically included. We’ll also identify any claim variations that could prove an obstacle to your clients’go-to-market plans.
We leverage our worldwide offices and our native language searching capabilities to conduct truly global freedom to operate searches. As requested, we can include naturally expired patent documents that can lead to “safe harbour” references that might be used to challenge the validity of possibly threatening patent claims. We can also work with you on an invalidity search to try to clear the way for your clients’ products.
