freedom-to-operate-analysislisted

# Freedom-to-Operate Analysis Novelty and freedom-to-operate are independent questions, and conflating them is the single most common mistake here: an invention can be perfectly novel and patentable while the *product built around it* still infringes someone else's active, unrelated patent on a component or method the product also happens to use. This skill checks the second question, which `patent-novelty-evaluator` does not answer. ## Step 1 — Define the actual product, not the invention FTO is about what gets built and sold, not the claimed invention in isolation. List every distinct technical element of the actual as-built product/process — including the "obvious" supporting components, not just the novel one — since any of them can independently infringe. State the jurisdiction(s) of manufacture and sale explicitly: patent rights are territorial, so clearance in one country says nothing about another. ## Step 2 — Search for active, in-force patents specifically This differs from a novelty search in one critical way: status matters. A patent that's expired, lapsed for non-payment of fees, or been invalidated is prior art for novelty purposes but is **not** an infringement risk — it's in the public domain. Search patent databases (Google Patents, Espacenet, national patent office registers) and check the current legal status of every candidate hit, not just its existence. ## Step 3 — Claim-by-claim comparison against every product element For each active patent foun