Question

Pooper Scooper Patent Case Paul French walked his dog each night and carried a plastic bag to pick up the dog Picking up the dog poop was not a pleasant task although he never had experienced a tear in the plastic bag. Paul was a design engineer at an industrial plant and it was his job to constantly come up with new developments. Why not a better way to pick up dog poop? Paul's mind worked overtime as he walked his dog each night. Finally he came up with a breakthrough idea. He designed a "Pooper Scooper" out of stiff paperboard that could be kept in you pocket until needed, operated with one hand and scoop the poop up in one motion and close the package with one hand retaining the poop so well that the closed scooper could be put back in his pocket safely without mess. This was it! He had the ultimate invention that would make him millions Paul proceeded to have the product manufactured and sought out distribution. He contracted to have 10,000 made and to test market these through a pet supplies chain in the New York City market. Next he thought, what if someone knocks off my invention? Paul thought he should patent his idea. Paul contacted a retired patent search specialist, Robert Johnson in Plymouth, Wisconsin, to do a patent search. Robert takes patent search jobs for $500-$800 and gets a patent application processed for another $2000 to $2500. There is no charge for the first visit with Robert. He'd sign a non-disclosure sheet to protect your idea. Paul learned that if he wanted to go to an attorney for this, there are good patent attomeys in Milwaukee, but at a considerably higher cost. Paul went with Robert The search turned up, believe it or not, another inventor in Santa Monica, California, that had applied for and obtained a patent on a similar item eight years ago. Paul tried to contact that inventor by mail at the last known address, but got no response. Paul didnt know what to do. He was about to invest about $12,000.00 in production and test marketing his idea. What would happen if he went ahead without a patent or a license from the original patent holder? What would you do?

Answer 1

If Paul went ahead without a patent or a license from the original patent holder, then he may get accused of patent infringement.

I think, in this case, either he should think about trying more ways to contact that inventor to know more about that invention from him or he should make some changes in his current invention or add some more features so that he will be able to show his product's uniqueness if anyone trying to accuse him of patent infringement.