Q: Dog toy/bed/mat that stimulates dog's olfactory senses should be permitted to be made?
A:
Freedom to Operate and Searching.
If you are asking whether there is a relevant patent in the United States that has not expired, I suggest that you do some preliminary searching using my slide set at http://bit.ly/Patent_Searching (one of several sets of slides accessible from https://www.flynniplaw.com/resources/flynn-ip-law-links ).
You should follow up with a patent attorney to ensure that you have freedom to operate. https://www.flynniplaw.com/services/legal-services/freedom-to-operate/opinions You do not want to invest substantial time and money into this project and then learn later that there is a patent in your way.
Searching for patents won't find all possible threats as some are hidden, but searching will reduce the chances of a patent being out there that you do not know about.
I hope this helps.
Kevin E Flynn
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