If I take one feature and change it a bit or make it look different can I get around a patent and avoid infringement?
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Answer by Josephine Inge of 1Place Patents Attorneys + Solicitors, Paddington 2021 NSW
- No. This is because patents protect functionality.
- A court may still find infringement when an article is not an exact copy of an invention but involves a functional equivalent.
- If you substitute one feature with something else that achieves the same function no matter what the substitute looks like so that the combination of features you are using still performs the same function as the original invention this does not bypass patent protection.
- How a feature looks is irrelevant unless the ‘look’ is relevant to the invention’s function.