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[arousa]

I wanted to produce a product in europe and came to find out a very similar product has a patent pending in the USA.  

Can I still be able to produce this product and patent it in my country or Europe. Say that the product is so similar that it can be mistaken for the same thing. Am I looking into getting into legal problems?

Thanks

[patentsusa]

A U.S. patent will only prevent you from making, using, or selling in the U.S.  

But a publication anywhere in the world will probably also prevent you from filing a valid patent application in the European Patent Office or in any national European patent office.  In Europe, you can either file in the European patent office, or can file directly in any national patent office in Europe.  But the EPO and the individual countries have "absolute novelty" requirements.

There are some small exceptions but they have tight deadlines.  You should contact a European patent attorney right away if your interest is in the European market, or an attorney in whatever other country your are interested in.  

If there is a U.S. patent pending, there may be others in other countries.  

You also need to consider trademark issues and whether there might be some other intellectual property involved.