Patents
FTO asks whether commercial activity may fall within enforceable third-party rights.
The analysis is tied to China, the relevant acts, and a defined launch date.
Patent titles and abstracts screen candidates; granted claims drive the legal analysis.
A decision map: proceed, redesign, license, challenge, monitor, or investigate further.
Send us the issue, the relevant rights, and any deadline. We will route it to the right practice lead within one business day.
Contact UsA patentability search asks whether your invention appears new enough to patent. A freedom-to-operate analysis asks a different question: could making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the planned product in China infringe a third party's enforceable patent rights? A product can be patentable and still face blocking rights owned by others.
The project therefore needs a defined product version, commercial acts, territory, and target date. A vague search for patents in an industry produces information, but rarely a usable launch decision.
Break the product into technical modules, mandatory features, optional features, manufacturing steps, software-controlled functions, consumables, and visible design elements. Identify which components are sourced and which are made internally. Suppliers' assurances should be recorded, but they do not replace an independent assessment of the finished product.
Prioritize features that are new to the company, technically distinctive, supplied by a concentrated market, or already associated with active competitors and licensing programs.
The search should cover relevant Chinese patents and pending applications, related family members, legal status, ownership, remaining term, and prosecution history where it affects claim meaning. Published applications may become future risks, while expired, abandoned, or invalidated claims require different treatment.
For each serious candidate, compare every claim element with the product. Similar purpose or appearance is not enough for a technical patent analysis; the legal question turns on the claim as properly construed and the accused technical solution.
A useful report separates confirmed mismatches, low-confidence questions, design-around opportunities, and rights requiring immediate action. It should show assumptions and missing evidence, because a conclusion based on an unfinished bill of materials or uncertain process can change when engineering freezes the product.
Risk also depends on the owner, enforcement history, validity indicators, supply chain, and likely remedies. The number of search hits is not a risk score.
Possible responses include changing a feature, obtaining a licence, acquiring a right, seeking an invalidation opinion, reallocating supplier responsibility, delaying a market, or monitoring a pending application. Re-run targeted checks when the design changes, a key patent grants, or launch scope expands. FTO is a decision process tied to the live product, not a certificate that eliminates all risk.
CNIPA: Patent Law of the People's Republic of China
This article is general information about Chinese IP practice, not legal advice for a specific matter. It was last reviewed on 2026-08-21. Rules, fees, and timelines change; confirm current requirements before acting. For advice on your situation, contact our team.