Q: What do we have to consider, if we use a product idea from Germany?
We would like to use the idea of a new product in the German market to design and produce our own product for selling in the U.S. market. The product idea is actually a new application for an existing product.
Our product will be having a different design. We will register a new brandname. The current product (the original German idea) does not have a patent and the technical elements and specifications are nothing new.
Can we use this product idea to create our own product, considering the possiblity of upcoming legal disputes?
Thanks
Leon
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A: Very generally speaking... Ideas are not copyrightable, what is copyrightable are the expressions of ideas fixed in a tangible medium. Patents can product products which are an advancement of the useful arts, that may be more apropos here. You indicated that you have a new application and a different design, that is something YOU may want to consider getting a patent, or at least applying for a provisional one, on. Note that this opinion is not legal advice and that I cannot provide legal advice unless retained to deal with the specifics involved in your case, which you may or may not choose to do, but I think you should get an attorney, it doesn't need to be me.
Peter D. Mlynek agrees with this answer
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