Freedom-to-Operate · US · China
Check freedom to operate before you launch, not after a complaint. Start with an FTO Screen of the patents closest to your product (2 credits). Go deeper with the FTO Full Report, which charts each relevant patent claim by claim.
Sign up and get 25 free credits · each screen costs 2 credits
Lists the US and Chinese patents closest to your product, with abstract-level evidence and open questions. Not a clearance opinion.
Self-serve screening covers the US and China, searched against our own patent database.
2 credit(s) this run
Real reports generated on our platform, with product identifiers redacted. Switch jurisdictions to see the structure.
Sample · de-sensitized. Product names and descriptions are solid-covered; patent numbers are public information. Report structure and analysis are genuine platform output.
Finding the patents that could cover your product in the markets where you will sell it. It tells you which patents to worry about, not whether you infringe them. Our FTO Screen does this in minutes, for 2 credits a run.
Run an FTO Screen →Taking the patents found and comparing their claims with your product element by element, including equivalents, to rate the risk market by market. Our FTO Full Report does this with claim charts and a risk matrix you can export.
A formal written opinion signed by a licensed patent attorney, the document investors, customs authorities and marketplaces ask for. AI output can't replace it.
2 credits / run
Pre-launch check for the US and China: potential blocker patents, abstract-level evidence, and open questions to verify.
Run the screen100 credits · first order 50
US and China. Multi-step deep pipeline: claim charts, risk matrix, DOE, validity assessment, design-around directions, exportable report (PDF/Word).
Unlock full reportInfringement is strict liability — good faith is not a defense to liability itself
Under 35 U.S.C. §284 a court may award up to treble damages where infringement is found willful, and under §285 attorney fees in exceptional cases. Continuing to sell after notice raises the willfulness exposure.
A patent owner can seek an injunction or preliminary relief, and customs and border authorities can detain infringing goods. A pulled launch or a seized shipment costs far more than the screening.
Under the PRC Patent Law, intentional infringement of a serious nature can carry punitive damages of one to five times the base amount, alongside injunctive relief.
E-commerce platforms remove listings on a patent complaint, often before you can respond. Prior screening lets you answer, redesign or license instead of going dark.
Investors ask whether you can sell your product freely. Better to know before you are put on the spot in a data room.
What sits behind the report
A real, vectorized patent database of Chinese inventions and utility models and US granted patents drives recall far beyond keyword search — every cited reference traces to a real patent number.
Every search query and the screening funnel — how many candidates were retrieved, screened and analyzed — is disclosed in the report. No black box.
Each relevant patent's independent claims are mapped element-by-element against your product's features, not summarized away.
Literal infringement, the doctrine of equivalents, and prosecution-history estoppel — the conditional questions that decide real exposure.
US §271 and Festo; China's Patent Law Article 64 all-elements rule.
The report is a structured first-pass triage, not a formal legal opinion. Where the call is close, we flag it for review by qualified patent counsel.
Any moment your product meets someone else's patents
Before mass production or market entry, confirm which in-force patents your product's features may read on, and where the exposure sits.
Selling into the US or via Amazon and other marketplaces? A single patent complaint can pull your listing. Screen the destination markets first.
Booths at CES or the Canton Fair are patrolled for patent enforcement. Know your risk before the doors open.
Investors and acquirers ask whether the product can ship freely. An FTO report is the document that answers it.
Changed a technical route to avoid a blocking patent? Verify the new design actually steps outside the claims.
A new supplier or component can pull in patents your prior design never touched. Re-screen when the bill of materials changes.
FTO stands for freedom to operate: whether you can make and sell a product without infringing someone else's patent. An FTO check is the quick first pass that finds the patents most likely to matter before you pay for a full analysis. Each check costs 2 credits, and new accounts get 25 free credits.
Yes. Clearance search, FTO search and FTO analysis all ask the same question: can you make and sell this product in a given country without infringing a patent that is still in force there? A search finds the patents that might matter; an analysis then compares their claims with your product, feature by feature. Here, the FTO Screen is the first pass and the FTO Full Report adds claim charts and a risk matrix. Both cover US and Chinese patents, and neither is a formal legal opinion.
Break your product into its technical features, search the patents in the markets where you plan to sell, then compare each relevant patent's claims with your product. The FTO Screen does the first two steps for you and shows abstract-level evidence; the claim-by-claim comparison is in the FTO Full Report. Every patent the screen lists traces to a real patent number, and the result shows which sources were searched.
Broadly, a product infringes a claim if it contains every element of that claim, either literally or, in many jurisdictions, through an equivalent. One matching claim is enough. Whether that is the case is a legal judgment for an attorney or a court; this tool helps you find the patents worth asking about.
Only with the patent owner's permission, or if the patent has expired or does not cover the countries where you sell. Patents are territorial: a US patent does not stop sales in China, and the reverse is also true. That is why this check asks for your target markets.
A first-pass search is 2 credits a run, and new accounts get 25 free credits. A search with full analysis (claim charts, risk matrix, exportable report) is 100 credits as a self-serve report, 50 for your first order.
A prior art (patentability) search asks whether your invention is new enough to patent, and looks at everything published before it, expired or not. A freedom to operate search asks whether your product would infringe someone else's patents, and looks at patents in force in the markets where you will make or sell it. One product can pass one test and fail the other.
An executive summary with a risk verdict, the search queries and screening funnel we used, claim-by-claim charts for the relevant patents, a feature × patent risk matrix, and the statutory framework and per-patent discussion for each market. The sample reports section above shows redacted pages from the self-serve report.
Important notice
This page describes a professional patent risk-analysis service. An FTO report is a structured risk assessment and does not constitute a formal legal opinion. Patent infringement is decided by the competent courts of each jurisdiction; before a major manufacturing, launch or investment decision, we recommend obtaining a formal FTO opinion from a qualified patent attorney or patent agent.