Asked in Patents (Intellectual Property)

Q: Will I be sued if my design was in some parts similar to an inventor design?

I develop a design from an invention and improve some parts, is it against the law if I sell my design. If it is against the law what can I do to make it legal?

1 Lawyer Answer
Kevin E. Flynn
PREMIUM
Kevin E. Flynn
Answered
  • Patents Lawyer
  • Pittsboro, NC

A: Kudos to you for caring enough to work to avoid the legitimate patent rights of the owner of an existing patent.

To infringe a patent, there needs to be at least one claim where each element (noun, verb, relationship) is present in your product. A dependent claim adds elements to an independent claim and any intervening dependent claims. So you should focus on the independent claims.

This is detailed work. Not a good topic for web chat. You will need to take your product and the patent of interest to a patent attorney who will need to delve into the details including possibly the negotiations with the Patent and Trademark Office and other inputs.

See https://www.flynniplaw.com/services/legal-services/freedom-to-operate/opinions and https://www.flynniplaw.com/services/legal-services/freedom-to-operate/opinions for useful discussion of how to design around an existing patent.

I hope that this helps.

Kevin E Flynn

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