What to do after a patent is discovered?

4 points by markkudlac 11 years ago | 7 comments

I began developing an adtech product about 6 months ago after checking the USPTO and finding nothing that I was infringing on. Recently I discovered a patent granted to Yahoo in the beginning of June that describes my product exactly. I am not sure what to do now. Any recommendations on a course of action would be appreciated.

dalke 11 years ago |

Ask at http://patents.stackexchange.com/ ?

petervandijck 11 years ago |

Your smart patent laywer might say: delete this post asap.

If you KNOW you're infringing a patent, it's MUCH worse than if you're infringing without knowing. That's why it can be better to not do patent searches.

zeeed 11 years ago | |

this. and do get a patent attorney asap so that you don't run the risk of having worked in vain.

Alex-Galapagos 11 years ago |

You need to get a pattern attorney and ask. Basically if you word it differently and describe it differently then it's a different product

smooty69 11 years ago |

3/16/2013 the rule "first inventor to file (FITF)" was put in place, you are out of luck and now infringing on Yahoo's patent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_to_file_and_first_to_inve...

BWStearns 11 years ago | |

IANAL, but I was under the impression that prior art can invalidate a patent even with FITF if it wasn't an issue of contesting the ownership of the patent, since an invention has to be novel and publicly disclosed prior art would mean that the patent was issued invalidly rather than issued to the wrong inventor.

informatimago 11 years ago |

Open your wallet?