I just found out that there is a similar apparatus to what I developed made by XYZ Company called the XYZ Company Widget. It doesn’t look anything like my invention, though. The main component of each device is a spring (I assume this because the XYZ Company product moves like it has a spring inside it).
How do I know if the patent for the XYZ Company Widget protects it against my invention? Thank you for any information you can provide.
There are basically three ways ro do it: You could search google patents using the compays name ( You should get the proper legal entity name and even the names of the poeple invented it or run the company), you could describe your product and perform a ‘freedom to operate” searc (it is highly recommended to use a proffesional to do this) or you could find out in the companys website, catalog or even on the product itself a notice about a patent or patent pending refernce.
You ar einvited to check our patent search section to read more about patent search