The following is not meant to be legal advice.
What to do when a company suddenly gets in the mail an allegation that the company has a product that is infringing upon another company’s patents?
The company receiving the infringement allegation can get an opinion of noninfringement from a patent attorney. First the patent attorney would need to do a conflicts check. Usually a patent attorney who handles litigation is unlikely to take on a case where he is to give an opinion of noninfringement because he may then exclude himself from taking on litigation cases.
Usually an opinion of noninfringement is to be reviewed only by the party requesting the opinion. When another party views the opinion, any attorney client privilege may be lost. This means the opinion may be disclosed if there is litigation with the party that is alleging the infringement. However, if another party wants to view the opinion, the parties involved may execute a joint defense arrangement.
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