Q: Now that I've been granted a utility patent on my exercise device,

A: If your patent has issued and is still in force, then you can prohibit others from making, using, selling, or offering to sell devices within the United States that fall within your patent claims.

To the extent that you have information about potentially infringing activity, you should consult with either the patent attorney that helped you obtain the patent or with a patent attorney that specializes in litigation to sort out whether your patent claims read on the accused device.

They can help guide you with selection of defendants. You may want to sue the manufacturer or you may want to sue the company selling the exercise device. There are a lot of items to consider.

Typically but not always, your first step is to reach out to the potential infringer to ask the infringer to stop or to take a license. This request is typically written by an attorney after studying the information available on the accused device.

Good luck

Kevin E Flynn

A: Yes, that is the whole point of getting a patent. You've spent a lot of money on getting your patent, so now it is time to monetize it.

You should consult with a patent litigation attorney to determine the various options that are available to you. You may license it, you may sell your patent, or you may litigate it. Which way you go will depend on many factors, such as what your product life cycle looks like, what your business plan is, how big the market is, how good your patent is, etc. From your point of view, it is really a business question, and not a legal question.

Make sure that you hire a patent litigator, and not just a patent attorney (someone who spends time obtaining patents), or just a litigator (someone who litigates just any case). Whoever you hire, it should not be the same person (or even the same firm) as the person who obtained the patent for you.

And, please remember that patent litigation tends to be very expensive.

Good luck!