In practice, companies regularly search the competitors's related published patent applications to determine whether they pose a threat to their own market activities. If necessary, companies can consider using the third party observation to block the granting of a competitor's patent application, or to narrow down the scope of protection of its claims, so as to eliminate the risk of infringement for companies's own products. In practice, companies regularly search the competitors's related published patent applications to determine whether they pose a threat to their own market activities.

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/third-party-observation-in-patent-prosec-23844

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