Patent infringement and mechanical design

Before investing effort in a detailed design, an engineer with a new concept should immediately perform a state-of-the-art search,  www.freepatentsonline.com provides free, key-word access to patents and more.  Older patents showing your concept are not a bar to your manufacturing, but are prior art and a bar to your being granted a  patent.  Sometimes, a professional state-of-the-art search is a good investment even early in the problem definition process.  On one occasion I paid for most of a patent application before traveling to DC and finding a 1940 patent that described my idea almost exactly.  (Several years ago older patents were not available to online searching.)

Today, individual inventors can file a provisional patent at very low cost and effort.  The provisionals aren't evaluated by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), but create a record of invention date.  This gives the inventor freedom to discuss his/her concept without asking for non-disclosure agreements.  For more information please see - www.rollindix.biz.