Technology Analysis & Clearance Review

Whether you have existing products and services or plan to offer them, the burden of protection as well as avoiding infringement is on you. Monitoring for potential infringement — even if unintentional — creates complexities very familiar to IP lawyers but not as clear-cut for corporations and inventors. Kinney & Lange helps in-house counsel and inventors streamline technology analysis and clearance review for stewardship of your resources.

Kinney & Lange performs many types of competitive intelligence analysis including clearance and freedom-to-operate searches, landscape searches, patentability searches, invalidity searches, due diligence analyses, non-infringement analyses and more.

Focusing on Complex Clearance

When you have dozens, if not hundreds, of new features going into existing or new products and services, Kinney & Lange delivers efficient technology analysis and a clearance process developed over years of experience with Fortune 50 companies. Clients appreciate our ability to provide thorough analysis on existing and potential filings while still allowing their business strategy to move forward. This is especially true with IP surrounding products and services that require lengthy government approvals through agencies such as the FDA or FAA, where IP risks can jeopardize hard-won and costly approvals.

Our strong suit is complex implementations. In fact, our firm is collaborating with the American Bar Association to develop the criteria for a nationwide industry standard for IP clearance. When the stakes are high, Kinney & Lange is dedicated to consistently accurate analysis and communication.

Pre-Application Analysis and Patentability

Some clients prefer a deeper look at prior art and their ability to file a new patent that combines patentability analysis with clearance review. Kinney & Lange delivers technical competence for a variety of industries to identify whether or not an invention is nonobvious and novel or may face infringement issues. Based on that analysis, we can also advise you on adjustments to your IP design or strategy — or even IP licensing options and alternatives — to allow your business vision to move forward. It’s a personal and streamlined approach that goes beyond strict searching.

Opinions of Counsel

In very competitive technological environments or in IP matters involving government contracts, the consequences for infringement can be severe and costly. Willful infringement is another layer of danger with the potential for triple damages awarded to plaintiffs. Kinney & Lange can support protections through opinions of counsel (also known as non-infringement or invalidity opinions) that document your pursuit of reasonable counsel to avoid infringement. Our opinions of counsel offer a thorough summary of your efforts, giving judges a stronger basis to keep questions of willfulness out of the hands of a jury. Learn more about our approach to IP counsel and litigation.

Patent Clearance Process

Kinney & Lange Patent Clearance Process


1. Understand

  • Interview Technical Contacts
  • Gather Product Information/ Design Documents
  • Identify Features for Clearance/ Define scope of search


2. Search

  • Comprehensive Search of Patent Databases.
  • Identification of Relevant Patents/ Applications
  • Secondary Searching Based on Relevant Results
Deliverables
  • Documentation of Search Strategies
  • Spreadsheet of All Relevant Patents


3. Analyze

  • High-Level Attorney Review of Relevant Patents/ Applications in View of the Product
  • Analyze Claims & Classify in 3 Categories According to Risk
  • Review Results with Technical Contacts/ In-House Attorney
Deliverables
  • Attorney Analysis Documentation


4. Solve

  • Attorney Review of Select Patents
  • Conference/ Review with Technical Contacts Re: Design Around
  • Further Searching for Invalidity Analysis
Deliverables
  • Non-Infringement/ Invalidity Opinions