Freedom to Operate

Freedom to Operate (FTO) are used to determine the patent landscape of the technology area you plan to adapt for your product or process. The idea is that you want to know if your product or process is possibly infringing an issued patent. We take time to understand your product or process roadmap, and identify patents that your products or process may infringe. FTO opinions can help with mitigating patent litigation risk.

An FTO analysis based on the search of patent literature is just the first step. If the patent search reveals that one or more patents do limit a company’s freedom to operate, the company must decide how to proceed. Assuming that the blocking patent is valid, options include: purchasing the patent or licensing it, cross-licensing, inventing around, and patent pools.

Source: https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2005/05/article_0006.html