Freedom to operate search for deep market insights

Freedom to operate search is a customized solution offered by search providers to businesses to give them peace of mind about the production technology they use or the product they produce. This search gives them the assurance that is safe to produce a product without violating third party intellectual property rights. In simple words, freedom to operate search is carried primarily for the purpose of evaluating the risk of market entry. There are many other benefits of conducting this study. You will have a better understanding of competition in given field of industry. It also shows how packed the market is and who are the biggest investors in the market. You will also get a sense of new products that will be launched by other companies in the market.

Different steps and cost of FTO search

Search providers complete such analysis in many steps. First of all, the principles are analyzed. The search expert takes a look at the technology or the product a company is planning to use or produce.  After that, the expert makes a patent search and collects all accessible information about the existing intellectual property rights that are in force. Next, the expert makes a technical comparison analysis to find out whether the technology or product the company is planning to use or produce is violating a patent or not. If it is found that it is infringing any patent, the expert then examines in which country the corresponding patent is valid and how long the protection will last. Finally, the patent expert recommends how to act further.  Conducting analysis or search is not an easy task. So it is an expensive affair. The total cost of freedom to operate search might vary depending on complexity and the work involved. The costing will be calculated based on the amount of time and efforts a search expert has to put into the analysis.

Results of FTO search

Once the analysis is over, the expert will provide recommendations with some risk evaluation. Some possible recommendations may include many aspects. For example, consider buying a license or a patent. The expert can also recommend on changing the product or technology in a way that it is away from infringements, limit activities to certain markets where technology is not protected or plan entry to certain markets only after expiration of relevant IPRs.

It is important to choose a professional service provider for conducting freedom to operate search to make sure there is no or negligible risk entering a market with a new product or a new technology.