One of the most frequent questions I get asked goes something like this: “I have a really great idea, but (name of big company or university) has a patent on that. What do I do?” With over 8,000,000 patents issued to date and thousands of new patents issued weekly, chances are good that patents have been issued that are relevant to your business or idea. Knowingly infringing an active patent can lead to disastrous consequences for your business. So what do you do?
Well, those people who have asked a patent attorney have already taken the right first step. Patents are legal documents and can be incredibly difficult to understand for those who are not well versed in the language of “Patentese.” Talking to a patent attorney is invaluable when dealing with a patent issue. So what follows is a discussion of a few things that should be considered to help give a better understanding of the process and to show that it is not necessarily a hopeless situation.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Help! There’s A Patent On My Idea! What Now? | TechCrunch
