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Key Takeaways A non-infringement opinion is a written legal analysis from a patent attorney concluding whether a specific product does or does not infringe a specific patent. It comes up in two scenarios: defensively, after receiving a cease-and-desist letter, or offensively, when a patent holder wants to confirm a case exists before asserting its patent against a competitor. It differs from a freedom-to-operate search in timing: an FTO search is preventive and happens during

Key Takeaways A freedom to operate (FTO) search checks whether launching your product could infringe someone else's existing patents. It does not check whether your own idea is patentable; that's a separate patentability search. FTO searches are jurisdiction-specific. Clearing the U.S. says nothing about your risk in the EU or elsewhere. Timing is everything. The right window is once the product has real shape (you know what it does and how it's built) but before major R&D, m