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I'm guessing, from what you're saying, that you're talking about a product idea that uses something that someone else has already patented? Honestly, it depends on how much you're planning on changing it. You really should find a patent attorney to help you with that...someone who's worked with patents in the area you're thinking about making this product for (i.e. if you're talking about a toy, you should find a patent attorney who's worked with toy patents before). Licensing a patent is 100% negotiable based on the patent owner's desire to license. So, if they think it's worth $1million for you to license their patent world wide, that's the price. There's no schedule or standard payment scheme for this sort of thing. Working around a patent is always a possibility, it's done all the time. But, of course, you have to be sure you're really working around it and not just enhancing an existing patent. Here's an example: You invent a pencil without an eraser and you patent it. I decide that a pencil with an eraser would be more useful so I patent that product (a product that uses a pencil with an eraser). If I attempt to sell the pencil without knowing you invented the pencil before me, you could sue me for patent infringement. In addition, if I knew you had the patent and I went ahead and patented my device and sold it with that knowledge, I could be liable to 3X the penalty... Now, of course, I could go to you and work out a deal where I license your patent. This could take on one of several forms: 1) I could license the use of the patent with a lump sum payment (e.g. $50million) 2) I could license it on an annual basis (e.g. $10 million a year for five years). 3) I could license it on a per unit basis (e.g. $0.05 per pencil) It would all depend on the agreement we figured out.

by KenLG

5 months ago

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