Patent Attorney and Founder
Accidentally infringing on a patent? It happens, but even if it’s unintentional, you can still face legal trouble. No, you won’t go to jail for it—it’s not criminal—but the patent holder can still take legal action. Most of the time, they’ll start by sending a cease and desist letter.
If you haven’t sold anything yet, they’ll probably just ask you to stop. Change the product, pull it from the market, and that’s often the end of it. No major lawsuits, no big damages. But if you’ve already invested a lot or have backers putting money into your product, that’s a different story. You might need to pay for a license to keep selling it or even buy the patent rights.
What throws people off is that you don’t need to know you’re infringing to be liable. In most legal situations, you have to know you’re doing something wrong. Not here. If a patent or trademark is filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, you’re expected to know it exists. That’s why people get frustrated when they’re hit with a cease and desist. They didn’t know. But in this case, not knowing isn’t an excuse.