Actually finding a similar product to yours can be a good thing. It means there is a market for this type of idea. But you must determine if you have a point difference and that is marketable and something that can potentially he protected.

When you discover similar prior art, you can design around the patent and use what you find to write yours differently, especially if the patent isn’t very strong. You will need to narrow down how your innovation differs and why it deserves to be patented.

On the other hand, you can contact the inventor to try to license the idea from him or her, if the patent hasn’t expired or you could just walk away right then and there.

We can almost guarantee you will find a similar product idea. Good ideas don’t emerge out of thin air. They improve upon what’s come before them. If you have any doubts we highly recommend working with a good patent attorney to determine what your next steps should be.