There are many different types of freedom to operate or product clearance issues in respect of which we can provide strategic assistance to clients. Most every business decision is driven on some level by a desire to minimize risk, and technology or IP driven projects are no different – business people conducting due diligence during the course of any number of different types of business activities may wish to secure opinion or strategic advice in terms of whether or not a particular business idea would infringe upon the rights of other parties in the marketplace such that there would be an infringement risk that needed to be factored into the decision matrix.
In the case for example of a new product or service, you may wish to conduct a search to ensure that you are free to manufacture or sell that product in the marketplace in comparison to other available products, or in comparison to the patent positions of third parties for example. Varying types of freedom to operate opinions and searching can be conducted to provide differing levels of comfort or different risk assessments dependent upon the markets in question, and the more specific nature of the business risk needing to be managed. Often at the beginning of a technology development project it may be the case that freedom to operate is considered in the context of patentability for example although the issues are not entirely the same – we are happy to provide further guidance or assistance on this as required.
An extension to validity and freedom to operate opinion work is that if a situation is identified in which a business believes that they may potentially infringe the intellectual property rights of a third party, they may wish to secure strategy or advice regarding appropriate steps which could be taken to design around the IP rights which have been identified as problematic. design around opinion or analysis is another area atin respect of which we can provide assistance.
Get in touch today to learn more about product clearance and freedom to operate opinions.
