TECHNICAL SERVICES
Freedom to Operate (FTO)
Identify patent infringement risks before bringing your products to market.
WHY IT MATTERS
The problem it solves
Reduces the risk of costly patent infringement litigation and business disruptions across target jurisdictions before entering new markets.
Helps organizations design around third-party patents and minimize infringement risks.
Enables strategic licensing, acquisition, or partnership decisions where patent risks exist.
HOW IT WORKS
From disclosure to actionable report
The same sequence on every engagement, in your system, to your rules.
- 01
Scope and disclosure
The invention, key features and any known art are captured in a search brief.
- 02
Search strategy
Classifications, keywords and databases are chosen for the technology and jurisdictions.
- 03
Global patent and non-patent search
Patent databases and non-patent literature are searched, including non-English documents.
- 04
Analysis and mapping
Relevant references are mapped to the features that matter for novelty or inventive step.
- 05
Report and review
An actionable report is delivered and walked through with your team.
What it does
Identifying patents that could affect a product’s freedom to operate can be time-consuming and complex, particularly in crowded technology areas and across multiple jurisdictions. Relevant patents and claims may be difficult to identify, and assessing their potential relevance requires understanding both the patent claims and the technical features of the product or technology. Identifying potential risks early can help avoid costly surprises later in development or commercialization.
Trexo conducts comprehensive FTO searches to identify patents and published patent applications that may be relevant to a product, process, or technology in the jurisdictions of interest. We analyze identified patents against relevant technical features to assess potential infringement risks and provide insights to support product development, market entry, licensing, design-around strategies, and commercialization. Our breadth of technical expertise helps identify relevant patents while reducing the time and cost of searching.
Key capabilities
Jurisdiction-specific patent searching
Claim interpretation and technical analysis
Design-around opportunity identification
Technology-specific subject matter expertise
Product and market-specific search strategies
THE OUTCOME
What Freedom to Operate (FTO) changes
Deep technical expertise across complex technology domains
Earlier visibility into potential FTO risks
Faster identification of relevant patents
Time and cost savings
Who it’s for
- IP law firms
- Corporate IP teams
- Portfolio management teams
- Innovation teams
- Research organizations
- Licensing and business development teams
COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS
About Freedom to Operate (FTO)
How is an FTO search different from a patentability search?
A patentability search evaluates whether an invention is novel and potentially patentable, whereas an FTO search evaluates whether commercializing a product may infringe active third-party patent rights.
Do you search multiple countries?
Yes. Searches can be customized for one or multiple jurisdictions based on your commercialization strategy and target markets.
Do you analyze patent claims?
Yes. We perform detailed claim based analysis and map relevant claims to your product or process to evaluate potential infringement risks.
What makes your Freedom to Operate service different?
Our FTO service combines comprehensive global patent searches, legal status verification, detailed claim interpretation, product feature-to-claim mapping, technology-specific subject matter expertise, and customized search methodologies to deliver clear, actionable insights that help organizations confidently commercialize products while minimizing patent infringement risks.
In what technology areas can Trexo conduct FTOs?
Our team has expertise across mechanical engineering, electronics, electrical systems, software, AI/ML, telecommunications, semiconductors, robotics, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, life sciences, chemicals, materials science, optics and photonics, automotive, industrial automation, energy technologies, aerospace, consumer products, and many other technical domains.
Why should I use a human over AI?
AI is excellent at searching and processing large volumes of data, but patent searching often requires technical interpretation, search strategy, and judgment. That’s where Trexo’s engineers and scientists add value to your patent search needs.
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Ready to talk about your portfolio?
Contact us and we will walk through your process, not a generic script.