Posted in Video
Transcript:
00:00:00 – 00:01:02
Well, one way to look if your idea has already been patented is to do a patent search is to visit the USPTO website or go to Google patents. You can also search through the product that you’re interested in and see if it is marked for patents. It should be marked on the packaging on the website or even on the product itself. There are ways to determine if it’s been patented and you can also see if the patent is still valid. Patents do have an expiration. It depends on whether the maintenance fees
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were paid and also there is a full term of patents. It really depends upon when they were filed and how long they’ve been pending. But patents can last up to 20 years. If people don’t pay the maintenance fees, if the inventor or the owner of the patent doesn’t pay the maintenance fees, then they can become public domain and then you can practice that invention. So, that’s one way to determine if your idea has already been patented.
