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[morethanthat]

Hello, suppose that inventor A pattented the kitchen chair. Four legs, a seat and back. And then inventor B comes along a few years later and patents a rocking chair? If both inventors are granted patents, is inventor A also allowed to build and sell rocking chairs? Or would he be infringing upon inventor B's new patent?

[10YearReg]

Not enough detail.

But I'll give an example that might answer your question.

Guy A makes a new kind of pen that spins and pops, which are the novel features.  Gets a patent.

Guy B comes along 5 years later and gets a patent on a pen that spins and pops and whirs, with the whir being the novel feature.

Guy A can prevent anybody in the U.S. from making, using, or selling his invention.

Guy B can prevent anybody in the U.S. from making, using or selling his invention, including guy A.

In other words, guy B would need permission/license from Guy A to make/use/sell his invention, and guy A would need permission/license from guy B to make use or sell his invention.

If the world really wants a pen that spins, pops, and whirs, then Guy A and Guy B usually cross-license their patents to make that happen.

If the world only really wants pens that spin and pop, then Guy A makes millions and Guy B has a worthless patent.

[JimIvey]

10YearReg is correct, although I though the question was clear enough to answer directly -- assuming by the grant of both patents that both were novel and non-obvious and assuming that A's rocking chairs would be literally described by A's claim(s).

Yes, A would infringe B's patent.  Depending on A's claim(s), B's rocking chair might also infringe A's claim(s), as noted by 10YearReg. 

This is a well-understood phenomenon called "blocking patents" and has an equally well-known solution: cross-licensing, as noted by 10YearReg.

As that repeats in a given industry, you end up with a relatively small group of competitors in which the ante for competing is one or more valuable technical contributions that the other competitors would like to adopt.  Then, they cross-license, teach you the secret handshake and password, and you're in.

Regards.

[10YearReg]

10YearReg is correct, although I though the question was clear enough to answer directly -- assuming by the grant of both patents that both were novel and non-obvious and assuming that A's rocking chairs would be literally described by A's claim(s).

Yes, A would infringe B's patent.  Depending on A's claim(s), B's rocking chair might also infringe A's claim(s), as noted by 10YearReg. 

This is a well-understood phenomenon called "blocking patents" and has an equally well-known solution: cross-licensing, as noted by 10YearReg.

As that repeats in a given industry, you end up with a relatively small group of competitors in which the ante for competing is one or more valuable technical contributions that the other competitors would like to adopt.  Then, they cross-license, teach you the secret handshake and password, and you're in.

Regards.

And MoreThanThat, I missed imparting the core issue here - sorry.

A patent doesn't give you the right to do anything.

What a patent does is give you the right to STOP others from doing something.  Namely, making, using, or selling your invention.

[Martin Leeuwangh]

I want a pen that spins, pops and whirs.  Do you have Guy B's email address?