Questions

I have a start-up idea, but I noticed that a similar service/website/database/business model already exists. It operates in a different niche/targets different customers, which is good. However, it is far more mature than my concept and it would be unwise not to learn from how they have grown and what they have tweaked/added. I'm thinking that this inspiration may lead to too many similarities. What should I check and consider to avoid intellectual property infringement and other legal issues?

Great question!

You can go to the US Patent and Trademark search engine or Google Patents and do a search on the company name. This will pull up any filings assuming its under that company name.

This is where its important to also obtain the names of other key figures who might have filed the intellectual property under their own names, rather than that of the company. Perform additional searches using these names as well.

A good IP attorney or agent would be worth the money to pay to have them conduct the search.

But keep in mind that functionality, like that of the Amazon "1-step" purchase button, gets a lot of attention, but there is little that you will see on the internet in terms of platforms that are novel.

Hope that helps! Bets of luck to you.


Answered 7 years ago

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