Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello I am looking for feedback on a invention process.  I have a idea and technical drawing of a idea for a military application.  Unfortunately when searching patent office website found a existing patent that covers a product that does a similar function but does it with a totally differnt method and mechanism that what I was considering.  My question is what degree of differnence to a existing patent must my better mousetrap encompass.  Must my product be 100% different than existing , 50% different etc.  Does anyone know what legal lithmus test is?  I appreciate any feedback or suggested articles to read.

I'm not a patent attorney, and don't have a ton of knowledge about this, but I'll offer my two cents. If the other patent covers the same function in a different application, the patent holder could legally stop you/take your idea. Your best bet would be to seek a legal opinion. If you can get your question in during an initial consultation, you might not have to pay anything. Even if you have to pay for a brief appointment with an attorney, it might be a few bucks well spent that saved you a lot of time and money developing an idea for someone else.

-Fletcher Manning

greatrivermachineworks.com

I agree, if you are infringing on an existing patent that you must re-evaluate.  If you have downloaded the existing patents that are similar, you may be able to re-design your product (depending on patent type).  If a design patent, it is really not to difficult to revise a design to avoid infringement.