FOLIO Ontology

All actions associated with determining whether a proposed product or process might be covered by the claims of patents and/or published patent applications, including definition of the scope and field of the search, searching, search field integrity checking, analysis of search results, and reporting to client. Also known as a "right-to-use" or "non-infringement" search, the field of a clearance search is often limited to the patent claims in a very narrow technical area. The purpose of an infringement search is to determine whether there are claims in those patent documents that might be broadly construed to cover a well-defined, commercial embodiment of a product or process. Since interpretation of the patent claims may require review of the disclosure, patentability and clearance investigations are sometimes performed concurrently. Work of outside vendors in conducting searches or otherwise assisting the investigation should be an expense under E100. Any formal clearance opinion directed at specific patents should be prepared separately under PA710.