Great Business Idea Blocked by Multiple Patents?? Is that it for that idea?

[Savij]

Hello,

I have a questions. I came up with an idea that had to do with kiosks in the food services industry. So, I flushed out a couple up front issues and it sounded like a good enough idea to move forward. I partnered up with a friend and we hired a patent attorney. He did a search for us (there goes our first grand). He came up with several patents that existed. The first one had to do with using a wired or wireless network in a restaurant. The next had to do with using a kiosk to transmit menu data over a network. There were a couple others, but those seemed the most relevant to the attorney. He recommended against us moving forward with the business because we would be infringing on existing issued patents.

I told him that actually those two patents infringed on each other. How can you have a patent on transmitting menu data, and another patent on a network in a restaurant. He explained that everything is fine unless they came after my business (once it became successful). At that point, they did have the patent and that would stand up in court. Well, you get the idea.

This happened a couple years ago, and it still eats away at me. I think I had a really good idea, but multiple overlapping patents were in place. Does that mean that no matter what I am stuck? I even tried contacting one of the guys who held the most relevant patent (the one about the kiosk). I left multiple messages with his patent attorney (the number on file on the patent) and explained that I had an idea for a business that might overlap his patent and wanted to talk to his client about a possible partnership. I never received any calls back.

So thats where I stopped on the advice of my attorney. I just wonder if others would have gone forward and dealt with the patents later if they got in the way. Did I do the right thing by dropping it?

Thanks for the advice!

-Jeff

[freechild]

You obviously did the right thing by dropping it, because that's what you did.

Any decision you make in life is the right decision, because it bring you where you are today, so quit regretting it.

But as for me, I wouldn't stopped where you stopped as well, because I know I can come up with a new, unique idea the next day.

[dslackman]

Move on. Life is too short for regrets.
Start your next business.

[freeliving]

a lawyer has to give you the law there is nothing saying you could not opperate in the gray area businesses do it all the time!it is like saying you can not run a CVS Pharmacy because Walgreens holds the patend on the idea got it!!
there is always a way to get things done you do not need to patend your business to begin with just run it as a business patend a name or logo if you want.