Q: I have a patent question
I invented a product for the sporting industry about 14 months ago , had it manufactured and am using it , i have sold 11 so far I have TM's in canada us and mx . It seems there is a larger market in the saftey sector so i created a second name for this sector and put a non provisional patent on it . so one product with two different names for two different sectors is this okay? patenting one and TM the other
A:
Congratulations on being such a successful inventor and business owner!
Patents and trademarks cover different things, so whether it is OK or not depends on your business needs.
We don't know if you had a patent attorney do the patent drafting and trademark registration for you. If you already have an attorney, go see him/her and disregard everything else that I write here.
If you do not have a patent attorney then here are several notes for you to consider:
(1) Because you have manufactured your sports product and sold it, you cannot patent your sports industry product outside the US
(2) You may be able to get a patent on your sports industry product in the US, if you sold it, or disclosed it to the public less than a year ago.
(3) You may or may not get a patent on the safety product. It will depend if the safety product is patentable over sports product. It might be challenging for you to do. You may be able to get claims to a method of using the device, but I am not sure. Also, even if you are able to get some claims allowed, they will likely be fairly narrow due to your sports product, and you must weigh the cost of getting such claims vs the benefits.
(4) Using trademarks might be a better way of getting protection.
Good luck!
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