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Washington Patents (Intellectual Property) Questions & Answers
1 Answer | Asked in Patents (Intellectual Property) for Washington on
Q: How do I tell if my competitor has a patent and what that patent entails?

I am looking to find if company "quikshow.com" Has a patent on the idea, and if so, what the patent entails so that I can maybe play around and see what possibilities I may have for this business.

Peter D. Mlynek
Peter D. Mlynek
answered on Mar 11, 2017

How do you tell? It is not easy to do so without hiring a professional to do it, but here are some steps that you can take yourself.

(1) Products need to have some sort of patent markings to give notice to potential infringers. With software, take a look at their website, at the shrink...
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1 Answer | Asked in Copyright and Patents (Intellectual Property) for Washington on
Q: Who can I email for patent paperwork to read about them and an application?
Will Blackton
Will Blackton
answered on Feb 8, 2017

If you're looking for general information about patents, the U.S. Patent Office has a good overview here: https://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/general-information-concerning-patents

1 Answer | Asked in Patents (Intellectual Property) for Washington on
Q: Who can mail me patent paperwork and an application? Thank you.
Peter D. Mlynek
Peter D. Mlynek
answered on Feb 6, 2017

Patent forms can be found here: https://www.uspto.gov/patent/forms/forms-patent-applications-filed-or-after-september-16-2012

A patent application is a document that a patent attorney writes for an inventor, based on an interview with the inventor, or based on various documents that the...
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1 Answer | Asked in Patents (Intellectual Property) for Washington on
Q: Do patents forbid any part of an invention, or just the exact invention from being copied?

For example, if a patent describes a luxury aircraft seat with a certain method of reclining and with a certain kind of tray table configuration, would the patent be violated if another manufacturer copies only the tray table configuration? Or, is the patent only violated if both the tray table... View More

Peter D. Mlynek
Peter D. Mlynek
answered on Nov 22, 2016

Good question. It does not matter what the patent describes. What matter is what the CLAIMS recite. If the claims recite both the table tray and the recline mechanism, then copying only the tray or the recline mechanism will not infringe the patent claims.

1 Answer | Asked in Patents (Intellectual Property) for Washington on
Q: Looking to create a patent and not sure how to find out if one is already in place for the idea I have
Mr. Ilya Libenzon
Mr. Ilya Libenzon
answered on Feb 26, 2014

You should contact a patent practitioner who can help you conduct a patentability search, and most importantly, interpret search results.

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