Q: I want to buy disposable cups from a manufacturer and then sell them on Amazon, however I am worried about patents.
Amazon ecommerce, private label, FBA, etc.
A:
You are correct that this is a legitimate worry. Patent liability attaches to those who make, use, sell, offer to sell, or possess an item that infringes an unexpired US patent.
If your supplier is located outside of the US, the patent owner may sue you and leave it to you to collect from your supplier if you have an indemnity clause with your supplier that the supplier will indemnify you from patent infringement claims. If you provided the specifications to the supplier, then it is likely that the supplier did not indemnity.
You may want to do some patent searching using tips in my searching slide set http://bit.ly/Patent_Searching . If there is a lot of money at risk, you should consult a patent attorney for a freedom-to-operate opinion. https://www.flynniplaw.com/services/legal-services/freedom-to-operate/opinions
If you see that there are patents that are not expired that arguably read on your proposed plan to sell cups then maybe you should shelve this idea and move to a product that does not have a patent cloud. Even if you are more likely than not to win a full scale battle over patent scope, I doubt that you want to take on that expense to win a 60/40 case.
I hope this helps.
Kevin
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