Can you patent something that has already been patented in another country?

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Can you patent something that has already been patented in another country?

For example if something has been patented in country A and you made something like it could you patent it in country B?

Asked on August 3, 2012 under Business Law, Virginia

Answers:

FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

Patent laws vary from country to country. As such, a person can patent some item in country A and another person later on can patent the same thing in country B. As a result, most likely the person with the first patent would end up filing a legal action in country A against the person who did the later patent registration in country B.

FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

Patent laws vary from country to country. As such, a person can patent some item in country A and another person later on can patent the same thing in country B. As a result, most likely the person with the first patent would end up filing a legal action in country A against the person who did the later patent registration in country B.


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