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Overview

A Freedom to Operate (FTO) search helps teams determine whether a product, process, or technology can be made, used, or sold without infringing active patents held by other parties. FTO research is an essential step in product development and commercialization because it reduces legal risk and unexpected costs.

This article walks you through a structured FTO workflow from planning and searching to organizing results and assessing risk.

What we are going to do here, is to provide just one way (out of many), you can do this using our Analytics platform.

Whether you are an IP or R&D Professional, or a Product Manager that assesses technical risk, we hope that the features outlined in this article can inspire your own unique workflows.

Define Your FTO Scope and Strategy

Before starting your search, take time to define the technical scope of the product or technology you are assessing. Document the key technical features and functions and break complex systems into individual components for more precise searching. You should also agree on the geographic jurisdictions where FTO matters for your product based on where you plan to manufacture, use, or sell it.

A clear scope leads to more efficient searching and more accurate results.

Worked Example: wearable exercise classifier

To make the idea of defining scope concrete, imagine that we are developing a wearable device that predicts what exercise a user is doing using motion sensors.

For this product we would:

1. Describe the core function
Our device uses motion and orientation sensors (like accelerometers and gyroscopes in a smartwatch) to detect and classify exercises such as weightlifting, running, squats, or cycling.

2. Break the technology into components
Let's assume the main technical components are:

• Sensor processing for motion data

• Machine learning classification for exercise detection

• User feedback interface

3. Choose relevant jurisdictions
Let's assume we want to sell this only in the US market

4. Identify keywords + patent classifications
 

Example keywords

• wearable exercise detection

• sensor motion classification

• exercise type recognition machine learning

• wearable IMU activity classification

Example classification codes

• G06F – Data processing; computing systems in general (useful for ML and classification logic)

• G06F1/163 – Wearable computers (covers general computing devices worn on the body)

• G16H20/30 – ICT adapted to physical activities and exercising (used when patents relate to physical activity data)

• A63B – Equipment for physical training and exercise; in some cases, used for movement or exercise related inventions (see related subgroups such as analysis of movement during exercises)

With these defined, our search strategy becomes targeted and efficient, homing in on patent families that are likely to be relevant to our exercise prediction technology.

Starting Your Search

There are several ways to begin an FTO search. Patsnap offers manual methods that give users full control (Field Search), as well as AI-powered options that automate the process while still allowing flexibility (Semantic Search and AI Generated Queries):

Semantic Search

If you are unsure about the keywords to use to build out your Field Search, Semantic Search can help guide your strategy. 

Semantic Search uses a semantic model, along with ranking functions, to return patents that are conceptually similar to your inputted text:
 

Note how a jurisdiction filter has been applied pre-search to ensure only US patents are considered, as this is where we want to sell our product. Semantic Search returns the top 1000 hits, so it is important to set any jurisdiction filters before your search for maximum coverage. Applying the jurisdiction filter after your search will not capture all desired results.

You can view the keywords that the model has extracted using the 'Customize input' option:
 

You can also specify filters such as classification codes using the 'Filter' tab - filters can also be applied after your search, but as mentioned, it will be best to apply these filters before the search to ensure the top 1000 results adhere to your desired filters:
 

You can use the patents returned in the results of Semantic Search to guide your strategy for what keywords and classification codes to use in Field Search. 

For example, if US20250170449A1, returned by Semantic Search, is representative of the patents you want to capture in your FTO search, you can open the record to review the claim language and classification codes. Both the claim language and classification codes can then be used to guide your keyword selection and classification codes use in Field Search:

More information on Semantic Search can be found here: Semantic Search

Field Search

With Field Search, you can combine keywords and classification codes to build your query. The most relevant fields for an FTO search are TAC (title, abstract, and claims) and classification fields such as IPC or CPC:

The various fields in Field Search allow you to create an elaborate and precise search to obtain the most relevant results. 

AI Generated Queries

The final search option provides an automated process that, in a way, brings together elements of Semantic Search and Field Search. Your technical description is used to generate a series of queries, ending with a final query for your FTO search:

Make sure that you select the FTO Search tab:

You can set the jurisdiction filter in advance to ensure relevant patents are considered, since patent rights are territorial. Here, we have limited our search to just the US.

Once your queries are generated, you can review the series and run the final query to focus on the most relevant results. Of course, you can create any necessary edits as well using the three dots next to each query:

 

Refine and Filter Your Results

Apply authority and legal status filters to your results using the refinement tab. Because patent rights are territorial and only enforceable while active, these filters help ensure you focus on patents that could pose a real risk.

Note that with AI Generated Queries, the jurisdiction and legal status filter were applied before the search was conducted.

Reviewing Results

Once you are happy with your result set, save the records to a Workspace for further downstream analysis and collaboration

One common workflow is sharing the Workspace with relevant teams to assess the patents for relevancy and legal risk. This is where Patsnap's Custom Field feature can be utilized:

This ensures assigned reviewers can quickly provide assessments without confusion. Custom field options keep responses consistent for everyone.

Reviewing Claims

The most critical part of an FTO search is claim analysis. This is because claims define what a patent legally protects. In order to be infringing upon a patent, a company must be infringing upon all the elements of an independent claim.

You can view the claims of a patent using the Claim Tree to easily distinguish dependent and independent claims:
 

Analytics Premium users also have the Claim Chart feature, which compares extracted patent claim features against a provided technical description.

Custom Field Tagging

As the claims and other patent fields are review, you can directly tag the patents within patent view using the custom field set up earlier:

After tagging is complete, you can then use the refinements tab in your Workspace to filter for high-risk patent for more extensive review:

Outcome and Benefits

That concludes a brief overview of how you can leverage the Patsnap Analytics platform to conduct an FTO search.

By following this workflow, you will have:

• Built a clear patent search scope for your product or technology.

• Used Patsnap Analytics tools to find and filter the most relevant patent results.

• Organized and reviewed potential blocking patents in a shared Workspace.

• Tagged risks based on claim analysis to highlight possible infringement issues.

This structured approach gives you actionable insight into your product’s patent landscape and lets you make informed decisions about risk, design, and next steps. A well-executed FTO search reduces legal uncertainty, supports alignment between IP, R&D, and product teams, and helps you move forward with confidence in your product’s freedom to operate.