What is Freedom to Operate (FTO)?
Freedom to operate is a professional opinion rendered by experts in the field of intellectual property (not only related to patents) as whether or not you are infringing others rights by engaging in a particular action (like testing or commercialising a product) in a particular country or region where you want to operate. A freedom to operate opinion related to patents usually includes the findings on patent searches in relevant jurisdictions and their expiration dates. Costs for freedom to operate opinions vary considerably, depend on the technical difficulty of the searches, and are outdated relatively fast as intellectual property landscape changes all the time. If the searches show there are valid intellectual property rights of others that would be infringed by the action you want to take, you have to clear your situation by negotiating a licence with the owner of the IP rights.
