What should you do when a competitor's patent blocks your activity?

When a company innovates, it may find itself up against a patent from a competitor that has a monopoly on the relevant product or process. How can you avoid being blocked?  

While undertaking an information search or technology watch, you discover a patent that describes your innovation. This document could constitute a monopoly that hinders the development of your product or process or the exploitation of your technology. This isn’t necessarily a problem, however. A number of factors (legal status, territory, claims, etc.) must be analysed first to assess the risks of counterfeiting.

There are then three possible strategies. You can:

  • request authorisation and make arrangements with the company that holds the patent
  • circumvent the patent in question
  • invalidate the patent.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of these three types of action? What are their limits? When and how can you proceed?

These are the questions answered by Ludivine Coulon, patent attorney at Calysta, in this video recorded with Sirris (in French).

In another video, Ludivine Coulon discusses how to circumvent a blocking patent in more detail (in French). 

Click here for more information on Sirris’s intellectual property services.