United States Patent law sets forth “whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patent invention, within the United States or imports into the United States any patent invention during the term of the patent therefor, infringes the patent.” 35 U.S.C. § 271. Patents also give you the right to prevent others from selling a component of your invention
Determining if a patent infringes requires an analysis of the claims of the patent as applied to the accused device. If the accused device has all of the elements found in any claim of the patent, the device infringes the patent. This is called the “all elements” rule of patent infringement. For example, if claim 1 of a patent claims elements A+B+C+D, if the accused device has elements A+B+C+D it infringes the patent. Similarly, if the accused device has elements A+B+C+D+E+F it still infringes on the patent because it has elements A+B+C+D.
If someone is infringing on your patent you may be able to get an injunction, royalties for the sale of the device, damages for your losses due to the infringement, and/or enhanced damages and attorney fees (provided the infringement was willful). Often a cease and desist letter suffices to halt the infringement, but in some cases the patent owner is forced to proceed to court action to stop the infringement and enforce their patent rights.
Owning a patent can be key to protecting your investment in your technology, particularly if your invention becomes successful. Companies that you may want to license your invention too will often not even listen to your idea unless you are patent pending. We highly recommend that you discuss obtaining a patent with a patent attorney (either a patent attorney at our firm or elsewhere) before you go forward with publicly using or selling your invention.