Whether you're building, evaluating, or advising on a new invention, FTO Checker helps you make informed decisions early — before engaging legal teams or investing engineering resources.
Below are the most common use cases for our tool, grouped by type of user.
Corporate and product teams
Startup founders
You're moving fast and need to confirm your freedom to operate before building, launching, or raising funds. FTO Checker highlights the 10 most similar patents to your idea, with short justifications in plain English. You also receive a spreadsheet with all technically relevant patents currently active — ideal for follow-up with your IP advisor.
Product teams
You’re about to prototype a feature or component that might be protected. Our AI runs multiple complementary search strategies to identify nearby patents. You can then decide whether to adapt the design — before committing engineering time.
Corporate innovation teams
You’re evaluating a new idea, startup, or acquisition. FTO Checker offers a quick landscape scan using both patent databases and open sources. The report is structured to support internal go/no-go discussions, and can be shared easily with legal.
Technology transfer offices (TTOs)
You're assessing whether an invention is worth patenting — or safe to license or spin out.
FTO Checker helps identify potential novelty issues and IP friction early. The report includes a list of active patents across jurisdictions — a valuable input for licensing committees, inventors, or external counsel.
Some TTOs also use our reports as a second opinion — to challenge or complement a manual search.
Intellectual property professionals
Patent attorneys and IP consultants
You’re advising a client, and need a fast, structured input before diving into a full clearance. FTO Checker helps you save time by surfacing the most technically relevant patents — with invention description, justification summaries, and a CSV export of the full dataset (you can dowload a sample report here). Use it as a screening tool or a starting point for discussion, especially with budget-conscious clients.
IP departments
You're managing patent strategy, but want an independent first read before investing legal resources. FTO Checker flags technically overlapping patents (not just keyword matches), making it useful as an early filter before deeper analysis.
Second opinion and peer review
You’ve already performed a manual search, but want a second, algorithmically independent perspective.
Some of our users — including TTOs and law firms — use FTO Checker to double-check key concepts, uncover missed patents, or challenge prior assumptions.
Individual inventors and applicants
Provisional patent applicants
You're preparing to file a provisional and want to check if you're too close to existing IP. The report reveals nearby patents and language patterns, helping you adjust your claims or terminology before filing.
Inventors
You’ve come up with something new — but is it safe to build or sell? Use FTO Checker to get a structured report with overlapping patents, plus a summary of relevant academic and web publications. It’s a low-cost way to prepare for a patent attorney meeting — or to kill a risky idea early.