Q: How can one company patent a single person enclosure tent so nobody else can compete in market.
I have found personal tents made overseas by am worried he somehow has patent on them all which seems off to me.
A:
I do not know why you think this personal tent is covered by a patent. But, you can do some looking using tips from my slide set on searching. http://bit.ly/Patent_Searching.
Note that a patent application originally filed overseas may come to the US 30 months later under the Patent Cooperation Treaty process and not get published here for another four months (approximately). That means that even a diligent search of US files may not find a patent application that is in the pipeline almost three years. You can cut down the blind spot to 18 months if you check the WIPO site for published PCT applications
As you did not mention a special feature that would be patented, the tent may have a much narrower design patent. For an introduction into this concept see -- https://www.flynniplaw.com/services/legal-services/united-states-design-patents .
If you found this answer helpful, you may want to look at my answers to other questions about patent law are available at the bottom of my profile page at
https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/kevin-e-flynn-880338
Kevin E Flynn
Peter D. Mlynek agrees with this answer
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