Q: If a sequence patent is expired. Can we use that sequence in product development
A: Rarely is one patent the problem. The odds are fair that there are other live patents, or follow-on patents from the expired one that may cause a problem with your product development. What you need is a freedom to operate opinion from a patent lawyer. That will involve doing a prior art search for live patents, and then the lawyer reviews those patents and compares them against your product to determine if the product would infringe on any of the claims. If there is possible infringement, the lawyer would then evaluate whether those claims are enforceable (because they might not be valid claims for a variety of reasons). As part of your project budget, I recommend you allocate $5,000 for this legal work. That way you get some peace of mind not only for the one patent you identified, but others that you might not even know about. I have done this kind of work and would be pleased to discuss it further if you would like. 202-713-5292.
A: A patent is an interesting tool. It gives negative rights. It gives the rights to the owner to prevent others from making it, selling, importing, etc. As mentioned before there may be other live patents that can prevent you from doing that process. Just because somebody has a patent, it does not mean they have unlimited rights to use it, as such patent may be touching other patents or intellectual property owned by others.
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