SME achieves market advantage through early patent analyses

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An SME is developing a new product range. They are aware that well-known competitors already offer similar products and are very active in applying for patents. If the new product range comes too close to the competitors’ patents, the latter will go on the offensive immediately. In this situation, how can the SME make the development process efficient from an IP point of view?

Our assignments

  • Search and analyse the state of the art (risk of infringement, patenting options)

Our customised solution

  • Cursory search for a rough overview of the patent environment (relevant patent holders, protected concepts, free state of the art).
  • Specific, step-by-step FTO searches based on the product concept in question. As soon as an obstacle is identified, the possibility of bypassing it is examined in direct contact with the client (adaptation of the technical method, attack on the validity of the third-party patent). If a circumvention is possible, we continue the search (with adapted parameters, if necessary).
  • Brainstorming for circumvention solutions
  • Determination of patenting possibilities as soon as a solution viable in the present patent landscape is identified.

Client benefit

  • Short term results of the FTO evaluation
  • Reduction of the search effort by reducing the scope to a necessary and reasonable scale
  • Immediate feedback on workaround solutions
  • Reduction / elimination of „waiting times” for FTO evaluation
  • Client wastes no resources developing solutions that cannot be implemented due to third-party property rights