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[armsor]

hey guys I have another very introductory question....if my idea is already patented in Canada by someone else, would that cover US as well, meaning am I out of luck here in the US or are these two different jurisdictions as far as Patent law is concerned?
thanks in advance.

[MYK]

The Canadian patent is prior art as far as any U.S. patent application you might want to file.

The Canadian patent only excludes you from making and/or selling the product in Canada.  If you went ahead and made it for sale in the U.S., you might run into an infringement lawsuit in Canada, given the volume of cross-border trade, especially if you sold goods to someone whom you knew was going to resell them in Canada.

However, if there's a Canadian patent, there's likely a U.S. patent or application swimming around out there somewhere.  If it was worth filing a patent application in a market of 32MM people, it's usually worth filing one in a market of 310MM people, unless it relates to clubbing baby harp seals or some similar Canadians-only activity.