From Patent to Product: How We Approach Early-Stage Infringement Analysis
Practice Note – ClaimsEvidence
Patent enforcement is broken.
Competitors ship products that read on your claims before you even know they exist. The question is: how do you identify infringement early and efficiently?
Introduction
This note walks through how we at ClaimsEvidence approach early-stage infringement analysis. Our goal is to help IP professionals:
- Detect potential infringement quickly
- Map claim limitations to product features
- Decide whether pursuing enforcement is worthwhile
This process combines automation, legal expertise, and investigative rigor. It's the same workflow we use internally — whether working with in-house IP teams managing large portfolios or law firms running targeted enforcement campaigns.
Start With the Claims — Not the Product
The first step in any patent infringement investigation is claims analysis. Before looking at the market, you need to understand what you're really protecting.
- Independent vs. dependent claims
- Key technical features and limitations
- Scope of coverage under the All Elements Rule
This ensures your searches focus on what matters.
Translate Claim Language Into Searchable Concepts
Legal language is precise but often abstract. To map claims to products:
- Break down claim elements into functional and structural terms
- Identify equivalent ways a competitor could implement each element
- Use automated tools to generate market-focused queries
This reduces blind spots and highlights potential infringement efficiently.
Evidence Collection & Claim Chart Mapping
Once potential infringing products are identified:
- Gather sources: product datasheets, manuals, patents, websites
- Map claim limitations to product features
- Classify matches:
- Literal
- Doctrine of Equivalents (DoE)
We use templates to keep documentation litigation-ready. For a deeper dive into sourcing public evidence, see our guide on finding infringement evidence without teardowns.
Prioritize Risks
Not every match is worth pursuing. Key considerations:
- Strength of evidence
- Market impact
- Likelihood of defensible enforcement
Prioritization helps focus resources where they matter most.
Continuous Monitoring
Even after an initial analysis:
- Monitor competitor product launches
- Track marketplace updates
- Refresh evidence-of-use charts as products evolve
This is where most enforcement programs break down. The initial analysis gets done, but no one has bandwidth to track the market continuously. Six months later, a competitor launches a new product line and it slips through.
EoU automation transforms the economics. What used to require a dedicated patent researcher checking websites manually can run in the background and surface new targets as they appear.
Conclusion
Early-stage infringement detection is a mix of legal judgment, investigative research, and automation. By systematically analyzing claims, mapping them to products, and prioritizing risks, IP professionals can make informed enforcement decisions before competitors gain the upper hand.
Next Steps
If you want to see this process applied to your patents, we run private working sessions under full confidentiality.