A freedom to operate opinions involve an analysis of the results of a clearance or non-infringement patent search to determine whether a particular product, service, or group of products or services, if commercialized, would infringe patents owned by others, or stated another way, whether the client has the freedom-to-operate regarding the product or service at issue. This is different from a patentability search, which seeks to determine whether or not an idea is new and could be protected applying for a patent.