Saturday, December 20, 2008
Freedom to Operate Review for a new product is to seek an objective opinion that the said product will not infringe any valid claims of issued patents that are known to the company or that are so obvious that they should have been known to the company. Keyword search in available patent databases such as Big Patents India (for India), NIC site, Patent Journal Search, Sci-finder Search, STN search etc and a review of competitors patent portfolios should be first step to find any issued patents that have claims that are closely related to the product. Search should be condcuted by a qualified searcher. In case of pharma products, generic names, chemical formula, chemical name and chemical struture should be used.
