freedom2operate.com
As cost of patent litigation skyrocketed, businesses are becoming very cautious before launching a new product on the market, and request therefore an opinion from IP firms to confirm that the product does not infringe any third party’s IP rights. The name of this opinion is “freedom-to-operate” (FTO).
Since IP rights are specific to different jurisdictions, a “freedom to operate” analysis should relate to particular countries or regions where you want to operate. If you want to commercialise a new variety of corn seed in your own country, for example, you might have complete freedom to operate if there are no patents, plant variety rights, trademarks or other IP rights covering the seed, the process used to make it or the way you wish to market it or in your country.
If there are valid intellectual property rights of others that would be infringed by the action you want to take, you may be able to obtain freedom to operate with respect to any one of those rights by negotiating for a license with the owner of the IP rights.
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