Freedom-to-Operate vs Patentability - Two Searches, Two Different Questions
Founders often assume that holding a patent means they are free to sell their product. They are separate questions. Patentability asks whether your invention can be protected; freedom-to-operate asks whether selling it would infringe someone else's rights. You can have one without the other.
What a patentability search answers
It looks at prior art to assess whether your invention is novel and inventive enough to be granted. It is about getting your own patent.
What an FTO search answers
It looks at live, enforceable patents others hold in your target market to assess whether making or selling your product would infringe them. It is about not being sued.
Why a granted patent is not a shield
Your patent gives you the right to stop others using your invention - it does not grant you the right to practise it if doing so reads onto a broader patent someone else owns. Both can be true at once.
When to run an FTO
Before a product launch, a market entry, or a significant investment - while there is still room to design around a blocking patent or seek a licence, rather than after you are committed.
We run patentability and freedom-to-operate searches as distinct exercises, so you know both what you can protect and what you can safely sell.
Evaluating an invention, planning a filing, or need portfolio guidance?
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