You intend to launch a new product, process or technical use on the marketplace, albeit patented by yourself, however, you want to absolutely make sure that you do not infringe (directly or indirectly) on any third party patent rights and prevent from happening that you will be served a writ of summons and that you may be brought to court of justice, your property and goods be confiscated (seizure) and that you be mandated to enter into recognizance (coercive penalty fee payment order) for each and every day that you are alledgedly infringing upon third party rights. Then it is extraordinarily wise to look before you leap and have an "Infringement search" performed well in advance (see also Freedom to Operate).
OSIP Search & Watch can perform such searching for you in a targeted and effective way by means of professional data base searching in the patent literature and report the results to you in a handy electronic report.
The domain of search comprises granted patents that are still in force over the last 21 years (or 26 years in case of crop protection chemicals/pesticides or medicinal pharmaceutical compounds) as well as patent applications which are still in the procedure of granting in those countries and/or regions of interest in view of intended production, transportation and sales. For that purpose we design and build several search strategies with respect to the features of what you are planning to launch in the market place, select the patent database(s) to run said built strategies, analyse found results in particular the claims and present a selection of the relevant hits. Subsequently we determine the present legal status of those selected hits (see Status) to assess whether it concerns enforceable patent rights that you might be infringing upon or that you will be infringing if granted and we draw up a conclusion with our advice how best to proceed (see also Nullity or Opposition). Calling in expert help from a patent attorney or an IP lawyer for a complete legal infringement advice is strongly recommended, also – for instance – in view of arranging licences between parties or for representing you in opposition proceedings. We have excellent relations to that end.
The cost for a thorough and careful Infringement search in the patent literature amounts to the number of spent hours of searching times our hourly rate increased by the costs incurred for data base usage, and additional status, document and agent fees. On the order of 5000 – 50 000 euro (ex VAT) is not uncommon. Please bear in mind a long turnaround time of ordinarily some weeks to several months. So it is vitally important to order your infringement search well in advance (i.e., 6 – 12 months preferably) prior to the planned market introduction in order to pass through a flawless and succesful launching.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information or a quotation: 