What is Freedom to Use? Freedom to use (FTO) is the lawful right to use your technological inventions without violating another party’s proprietary rights. You may obtain freedom to use by innovating a new technology of your own, developing around existing patents, or licensing or buying the rights to your patent(s). There are many forms of FTO, including: – Compile and disclose source code – Design in assembly – Patent assignment – Implement, promote, sell, manufacture, and control a product – Deliver a product to the public – Perform services – Display a product – ship a product to the public – Build a structure that is a structure – Provide support services – Use a facility for commercial activity – Give away a product – Technology transfer. 

Let’s say that you have a technological invention that would be beneficial to someone else but that you are not at all confident about the legal status of your invention. Or perhaps you are not sure about whether or not your claim to rights actually meets the legal requirements for patentability. In this case, you may wish to proceed with a product clearance search. A product clearance search is conducted on patents to determine whether the claimed invention is legally patentable. This article describes how a product clearance search works.  

Freedom to work is simply an interpretation of freedom to innovate – that is, people have the right to use their ideas, concepts and designs in order to realize their goals and create new products and inventions. One way to define “freedom to work” is to mean the ability of an individual or group to engage in a number of distinctively different activities, the outcomes of which are unrelated to the individuals or groups themselves. Thus, if you are able to demonstrate to a patent examiner that the claimed invention satisfies this definition of freedom to work, then you may have the right to submit an application for patent protection to the patent office.  

When submitting your patent application, it is important to understand that the patent examiner will review your application only if it includes a complete and accurate description of the invention, as well as a detailed description of the time period during which the product or technology was produced or conceived. 

For example, consider a patent application claiming to create a new method of increasing the height of low-level staircases. If the patent applicant does not correctly describe how their product works, the patent office will likely conclude that the claimed invention is not patentable. However, if they describe how their product works and incorporate videos of actual customers taking advantage of the product, the patent office may conclude that the product does infringe upon the exclusive rights of the patent-holder. If the patent applicant includes accurate and clear information about their product and the time period during which it was produced, the patent office will likely consider the product to be patentable.  

As you can see from the preceding example, it is very important to provide the patent office with accurate and complete disclosure regarding the time period during which your invention was produced and the product was marketed. If you fail to do so, you run the risk of being awarded no protection and/or high patent costs. To guard against infringement, as well as other potential risks, you should work with a qualified patent attorneywho has experience in drafting patent claims and seeking protection for them. If you have questions regarding the breadth of the protection available to you under the various search provisions, you should consult with a patent specialist skilled in patent law.