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[proactive]

Hi all,
I am new here.

I have a question.

For some years now I have been involved with a soil stabilization product with the main aim to take out a licence with the company that holds the patent rights. The patent rights are strong and enforceable mostly worldwide. That I can confirm.
However, as insurance and problems that have been raised (ie; a horrific licence fee and royalties) I cannot now continue with this company.
Since 2006/7 I have developed a similar product that is not the same formula. I have introduced new materials and removed existing ones to improve the performance. I did not share this information with the company that holds the patent rights.
Can I manufacture with the knowladge that I will not be sued? Or would I still infronge the patent?

Thanks in advance.

[DogDayPM 9er9er9er]

We have no way of knowing whether you'd infringe the patent based on what you've told us so far, and you seriously should not post any more explicit details on this public forum, and I also for certain would not be posting comments lauding the "strength" of a patent of someone who might become a legal opponent. 

In your shoes, I would take my information to a patent attorney who could review the patent and my product carefully and then give me proper advice.

As an example of how these questions are fact specific, a simple idea like a patented chair may help.  I want to license a patent covering a chair having a really neat adjustable back feature, but negotiations fall apart because the other guy is just too greedy.  This guy's chair is made with a set of coiled springs in the back that allow the seat back to recline then return the chairback automatically to a vertical position.  So I design my own chair that works in a completely different manner, having, uh, a series of nano-scale gas shocks, instead of the coiled springs like the other guy's chair.

When I get sued, imagine my surprise (because I failed to go sit down with my patent attorney) that my neat new chairback may infringe the other guy's patent which claims a chairback with a "means for reclining" and a "means for vertical return".  Gee, shucks, and darn, I wish someone had mentioned to me earlier that the other guy's patent isn't necessarily identical to his product.