Clearance Search / Freedom-to-Operate Search

Euclid IP is expert in Freedom to Operate studies. We thoroughly analyze products or services or the technology and gain knowledge of particular industry and marketing trends. Detailed understanding of the product and patent claims enhances our comparison skills of the product/service in question against the patent claims.
Clearance search or Freedom to Operate search (FTO) is conducted before the launch of a new product/service/technology in a market. FTO search is essential to understand infringement of competitor’s patent with the client product or the other way around. Such studies are business-critical since they directly affect the IP strategy adopted.

Our X-Factor

  • A thorough claim mapping with element-to-element analysis of product or technology.
  • In-depth analysis and understanding the scope of granted claims and published patents in the specific territory/jurisdiction to provide opinion on Freedom-to-Operate.
  • Country specific patent legal status extraction & analysis.

Our Approach

  • Thorough review of the product or technology to identify the product features.
  • Thorough review of the patent claims to identify the elements of the claim.
  • Framing search strategies to uncover the prior-art based on keywords, assignee, inventors, citations (forward and backward), patent classification codes (US, CPC, IPC, ECLA, and F terms).
  • Preparing freedom to operate claim charts.

Deliverables

  • MS-Word format including an executive summary, the conclusion of the study, and relevant results in-depth analysis.
  • An Excel file depicting the claim chart with different sections of potential publications disclosing the claim(s) subject to Infringement.
  • An Excel format depicting the mapping of patent vs product.
  • Reporting format includes a quick analysis table and claim chart that would help to quickly understand the output of the search report with respect to infringement.