Freedom to Operate (FTO) or Clearance Searches

The objective of conducting a Freedom to Operate (FTO) or Clearance Search is to proactively identify and mitigate potential patent infringement risks, as such risks could pose legal threats to the innovator or manufacturer involved. This ensures that a product, technology, or service can be commercialized without legal obstacles, making an FTO search an essential step before introducing any product, technology, or service to the market.

A Freedom to Operate search involves a comprehensive investigation that aims to identify whether a product, technology, or service infringes on any claim(s) of an issued and live patent/design or even a pending patent application(s). Besides supporting an inventor or company in finalizing a novel design early in the development phase before a substantial number of resources are invested, a robust FTO search can also highlight opportunities to license existing technology. This approach saves time and reduces the risk of litigation.

At Ingenious e-Brain, we assist our clients in comprehending the consequences of infringement and in avoiding litigation. We’ve been strategically supporting enterprises across various domains, including electronics and semiconductors, IoT, medical devices, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology, among others, to offer precise and objective FTO search opinions on a territory or a group thereof. Our team of expert patent analysts identifies active patent applications that specify claims, potentially leading to infringement risks for innovative products, services, or technologies.

Why is FTO search imperative?

To precisely measure infringement risks
To emphasize licensing scope and requirements

To deliver proper assistance related to R&D activities

Why Ingenious for FTO?

The claim interpretation is expanded to its broadest scope, considering both the prosecution history and support from the specifications.
Detailed mapping reporting with Expert comments on each result – visual mapping is also available to show how claims are relevant to the product.
Comprehensive reports with color-coded mapping and analyst comments on each result.
Quarterly, semi-annual, and annual updates are provided for FTO search reports, encompassing changes in legal status, modifications to previously identified claims, and new findings.

We offer essential information concerning both active and expired patents.
Our search team communicates regularly to keep our clients informed of progress and milestones achieved on their projects.
Key feature/Risk matrix highlighting patents that require more attention.

TESTIMONIALS

Product Development Head,

British American Tobacco

Cigarette company London, UK

IeB has delivered a great engagement scope with working analysts; regular brainstorming together leads us to conclude the study in extremely efficient and reliable ways. We are actively using the insights provided for our product development activities.

External Partnering Director,

Boehringer Ingelheim

Pharmaceutical company Germany

I am very impressed with your research and would love to recommend you for future research activities. The team has done a good job of understanding our needs and was very patient in taking care of our needs every time.

Technology Development Director,

FORVIA

Mobility Company United States

I would like to thank the IeB team for their tailored approach and for helping me connect with the solution provider to ease the integration process at my facility. The team was always available to me and helped me in each phase of the critical project.

Chief Product Officer (CPO)

Teknos Group Oy

Paint & coating industry, Finland

Working with Ingenious e-Brain has been a game-changer for our business. Their high expertise & deep industry knowledge around coating materials and biodegradable compounds have helped us understand market trends around water-proof coatings and navigate complex challenges. Without a doubt, they have become our trusted advisors.

Regional Director

Sacco System

An International Biotech Hub

Ingenious e-Brain has proven to be a true catalyst for our organizational success. Their unparalleled expertise & deep knowledge in the healthcare industry allowed us to reimagine our business model, optimize processes, and enhance customer experiences. Most importantly, we appreciate how they responded promptly and clearly, even during odd hours.

Oddvar Spjeld

CAPTICO2

CEO

With exhaustive research and analytics, prompt responses, and quick deliveries by Ingenious experts, we have been able to explore the Indian CCU market in an efficient manner. By understanding our competitive advantage, IeB assisted us in recognizing potential partners across the country and scheduled our meetings with a few collaboration-seeking partners related to the CCU sector. It was a pleasure working with you people.

Milana Ayzenberg

CAPTICO2

CTO

The unwavering support of the highly competent team of Ingenious e-Brain experts helped us tap into the Indian CCUS market swiftly. By understanding our competitive advantage, IeB delivered significant information on potential primary & secondary customers and delivered critical insights into the supply chain by emphasizing pricing, logistics, and available cement polymer composite (CPC) suppliers.

Head of production

Daimler

German automaker

We’ve had the pleasure of working with Ingenious e-Brain, and it has been an incredible journey. The analytical thinking of automotive and ICT industry experts guided us at every step of fabricating smart sensors for mobility companies. We consider them an invaluable partner and highly recommend their services to any organization seeking consulting expertise.”

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Xeikon

Netherlands-based Digital Solutions provider

IeB has never failed to amaze us with its outstanding services, especially in delivering evidence-based strategies & transformative solutions. The holistic approach of IeB helped us considerably mitigate our carbon footprint by creating a strategic roadmap to reduce scope 1 and scope 3 emissions.

Innovation Director

Stora Enso

Paper mill company, Finland

As a Front-End Innovation Director, I’ve worked with Ingenious e-Brain on several innovation-based projects. With their robust support, we identified trending novel packaging materials, new products, and concepts for different markets. The delivered project report from them was always on time, excellent, and very well organized.

Head of Department (ESG)

Faurecia SE

French global automotive supplier

My team is really impressed with the tangible and selected results provided by Ingenious e-Brain experts so that we can act upon them. They not only showcased different checkpoints across the roadmap towards GHG emissions reduction but also mentioned all the capabilities required throughout the journey toward success.

Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO)

Sealed Air Corporation

Packaging company, North Carolina

I’ve worked with some remarkable organizations, and Ingenious e-Brain is no exception. I am highly convinced by the list of flexible packaging materials suppliers you have sourced, as we were dealing with the supply chain disruption. The valuable data on potential suppliers provided by IeB experts helped us restrict transportation expenditure.

[Head of Patent Management]

ABERTIS INFRAESTRUCTURAS

Spanish Telecommunications company

We’d like to thank you and your team for all the hard work! Your team did an excellent job organizing results, and we admire your approach of maintaining communication throughout the process of discussing the 4G patent-related searches. We look forward to working with you in the coming years.

[Chief Quality Officer (CQO)]

Bayer AG

German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company

We have been working with IeB for a long time, and they have been consistently providing deliverables par excellence. We would love to recommend them to our peers for future research & analytics projects. They understood our needs/problems well and worked very patiently and diligently, making changes every time we added new details.

Strategy Head, R&D

Sun Chemical

Printing inks and pigments manufacturer, New Jersey

I’d like to thank the team of Ingenious e-Brain for their tailored approach to helping our firm gather the results we were looking for. They helped us connect with the formulation provider to ease the ongoing R&D project at our facility. I would recommend them to the other members of my organization and look forward to employing their services again.

Chief Innovation Officer (CIO)]

TotalEnergies SE

French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company

Ingenious e-Brain came up as a great support to our strategic investigation into advanced battery development. They managed to bring together a broader aspect of innovations related to battery efficiency and charging capacity at a global level. Besides this, they accurately evaluated the current market size and potential in line with our expectations. I warmly recommend them for such services.

Product Development Head

British American Tobacco

Cigarette company London, UK

Head of Sustainability Management

Roche

Swiss multinational healthcare company

We highly recommend Ingenious e-Brain to anyone seeking innovative solutions in sustainable drug development. Their professionalism, expertise, and dedication have proven invaluable assets to our business, maximizing efficiency & significantly reducing water consumption. Their commitment to sustainable practices has improved our bottom line and aligned our business with our core values.

Patent Officer

Valio Ltd.

Finland-based dairy products manufacturer

Ingenious e-Brain stands out as a true partner in our long journey of managing our lucrative F&B portfolio. Their consultants’ expertise and strategic insights have guided us throughout the litigation lawsuit. Through their meticulous analysis & comprehensive knowledge of global IP regulations, we identified untapped growth opportunities and mitigated potential risks.

[Technology Development Officer]

Jacobs Douwe Egberts

An American-Dutch beverage company

Working together with a partner like you is spectacular. We really appreciate how you extracted the current innovations related to hybrid meat processing in a short time and delivered the compiled report per the industry standards. Extremely happy to work with you guys and expect such contractual collaborations with you in the near future.

[Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)]

Surys In Groupe

Optical & digital security solutions provider

Ingenious e-Brain is absolutely amazing! …We learned how to transform the ideation into reality by employing a feasible approach to reach the milestones. Their team has dived the extra mile to find potential SoC suppliers in a specific region and keep us informed of all the regulations and incentivization that directly influence our production cost.

[Head of Innovation Management]

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.

American company specializing in coatings

With the assistance of Ingenious, we’ve been able to commercialize our novel edible formulation efficiently. Their team’s strong support and authentic information helped us add an invaluable patent to our portfolio. We consider your firm an agile, scalable platform to empower growth and success.

Chief Innovation Officer

Infineon Technologies

German High-tech company

I’d like to extend our appreciation for your support in finding potential licensees for our patented imaging technology. We are also impressed by the timely completion of all aspects of dealing with us as your esteemed client. We look forward to continuing our professional relations in the future.

External Partnering Director

Boehringer Ingelheim

Pharmaceutical company, Germany

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)]

Sunstar Group

Japanese global oral care, health and beauty conglomerate

When the global pandemic disrupted the entire business landscape, your marketing strategy and social media analytics solution significantly helped us reach our potential customers and shift our consumer electronics business to digital.

[Director, Portfolio Management]

BioMar

Global leader in sustainable aquaculture feeds

Thank you for your search results. This time, although we didn’t obtain a valid invalidation material but we feel your search was exhaustive, and you covered all aspects related to a beverage preservative. We are very happy with the quality of your reports and service.

Chief Operations Officer (COO)]

Labcorp

Healthcare company, North Carolina

As an established healthcare company in medical, diagnostic, surgical, and analytical lab supplies, broadening our horizons to the regions with potential opportunities has been our key milestone. Thanks to Ingenious e-Brain consultants with high expertise in the healthcare industry for helping us select appropriate regions through market sizing & forecast.

Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO)]

Mondi plc

Multinational packaging and paper group

Indeed!… Ingenious e-Brain is the best strategic partner for our agribusiness. We were stressed about the post-harvest losses due to cross-border distributions in an unpredictable environment. To navigate this challenge, they helped us recognize the cost-effective temperature-controlled storage solutions and best-fit packaging solutions to enhance our products’ shelf life.

Director, ESG Department

Huntsman Corporation

American multinational manufacturer & marketer of chemical products

You guys are of course trailblazers for our marginally growing chemical industry. The details you shared about making the cross-linking system sustainable to improve the final product have supported us in meeting the regulatory standards. Considering the prompt response and precise data, we have recommended you to other peers across the sector.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)]

L’Oréal S.A.

French personal care company

We were in a pressing need to wrap up our secondary research on acne treatment products, for which we were desperately looking for a consulting firm that could provide us with the deliverable within 48 hours. Ingenious not only accepted this time-bound challenge but also delivered the report containing the exact information on time.

Head of Risk Management

Gentherm Incorporated

Automotive industry company, Michigan

We were diligently working on manufacturing auxiliary electrical systems for EVs, for which we need to understand recent innovations towards electrification, market opportunities, and competitor’s activities to formulate our business strategy. In strategizing the entire business operation, Ingenious provided us with ample information on trending production technologies, applications, player activities, and global market forecast related to EVs.

Senior Vice President

Grammer AG

German Automotive company

As a renowned automotive company with an insightful portfolio, we remain curious to keep adding features to our cars. We thought of incorporating the novel split door concept in our upcoming models. To make it a reality, Ingenious e-Brain scouted the ideas and inculcated the best-fit solutions for our fleet of vehicles by conducting planned & deep research on the subject.

Chief Executive Officer

Bunge Limited

American agribusiness and food company

Ingenious guided us at every step to sustain in a new market by providing all the relevant information about our competitor’s strategy planning, establishment, product portfolio, expansion plan, financials, revenue & profit, margins, IP, technology mix, and other aspects related to the FMCG market. The report provided factual insights into how we can surpass our competitors and stay ahead in the market.

Head of Business Development

Elmos Semiconductor SE

Semiconductor products manufacturer, Germany

It was an excellent experience working with Ingenious e-Brain. Our key milestone was to improve SoC performance, for which we were looking for key technologies to introduce liquid crystal materials in the production unit. We are content with the information they provided and would recommend them to other enterprises planning to revamp their business operations.

Supply Chain Officer

Mycronic

Global supplier of high-precision production equipment

Finding a genuine raw material supplier for our semiconductor manufacturing business close to the premises was tedious. Besides providing the list of raw material suppliers, Ingenious e-Brain consultants helped us connect with them and designed a standard procedure and timeline to adopt new materials

Spanish Telecommunications company

ABERTIS INFRAESTRUCTURAS

Assistant Vice President (Research & Innovation)]

Undeniably, Ingenious e-Brain is our leading supporter in fostering our encryption and key management business. The key challenge we faced was finding potential customers in emerging markets, particularly Japan. The consultants facilitated us in finding potential vendors and identifying sales & business development resources crucial for encryption & key management.

[Chief Experience Officer (CXO)]

Siemens AG

German multinational technology conglomerate

Ingenious e-Brain is hands down the best decision we’ve made for our business. We raised a request to gather information about the trending technologies used in Biometric Sensor for Face Recognition, market dynamics, and key players. Their consultants’ expertise and deep knowledge directed us to precisely understand the key technologies and players that have set a benchmark in the industry.

Chief Innovation Officer (CIO)]

Onsemi

American semiconductor supplier company

The results delivered by your team were truly marvelous. The way you processed the bulk of data to create insights was out of the box. Moreover, your profound understanding of the LED display value chain has definitely helped us find best-fit encapsulation materials in terms of cost & quality.

Regional Distribution Officer (RDO)]

Elopak

Carton-producing company, Norway

I’m blown away by the exceptional service and results delivered by Ingenious e-Brain. They truly understood our needs and tailored their solutions accordingly. As a shipping services provider, we were seeking the best-quality and economical packaging materials; and you guys came up with all the relevant cardboard-based packaging materials. We’re definitely coming back for more!

Head of Research & Development

Subsea 7

UK-based Engineering company

From start to finish, Ingenious e-Brain exceeded our expectations by guiding us in building a robust hydrogen storage facility. The research & analytical data generated by them were astounding, and their personalized solutions and communication approach made us feel like valued partners.

CTO

AET

Shipping company, Singapore

Choosing your expertise was the best decision to drive our major project on innovating fuel cell technology. With your strategic guidance and technical knowledge, we’ve explored the ongoing developments around electrolyzers, fuel cells, and energy conversion. Their exceptional service, quick turnaround, and attention to detail exceeded all our expectations.

Head of Product Improvement

Flint Hills Resources LLC

Refining & manufacturing company, Kansas

Reliable, responsive, and results-driven – After partnering with numerous solution providers, we’ve concluded that Ingenious e-Brain has set the benchmark for timely delivering efficient business solutions. Their technical knowledge and business mindset act as a catalyst for designing highly compact aluminum batteries.

Olivier Lodeho

Subsea 7

Head of Technology Group

The consistent efforts, prompt outcomes, and flexibility in engagement by the team of Ingenious e-Brain experts have undeniably supported us in strategically designing business models for offshore wind energy and its storage solutions, especially in Europe. Besides this, we got access to insights into different technologies and process efficiency techniques and have been able to explore more energy storage solutions. I’d like to thank Ingenious e-Brain for an excellent job and for providing a seamless experience!

Oncology Senior Medical Advisor

Nabil Mobarek

Eli Lilly

It was really my pleasure to participate in the conference and am looking forward for future events.

Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology

Dr. Satya Narayan

University of Florida

It was indeed a pleasure attending the OncoVision virtual conference. I am glad to know that the conference was successfully concluded. I thank you for the note you just sent. Have a blissful day.