Ownership of a slightly different product.

[pam.bell87]

Hi. I saw a product online that's designed to hold small items. I wasn't able to find an existing patent on this existing product. However, I still don't think I can file a non-provisional patent and call it my own since it already exists in the marketplace...

This is where it gets tricky:
I'd like to create this on a larger scale, like a duffle bag or something similar to hold items.
I'm not filing a provisional patent, just a non-provisional patent. Could I file a non-provisional patent on this concept and connect with companies to license the idea?
As stated, the product that exists is only able to hold very small items. Ultimately, they both will be used to hold products, so I don't know if this is different ENOUGH?

[bartmans]

Since nobody has replied sofar I will provide my (European-based) response.

First of all, at least one embodiment of the procut is on the market. This means that it is publicly known and that you will not be able to get a patent that has a claim which would include said embodiment. You may file a patent application on a different embodiment which allegedly is an improvement of the existing embodiment (because it may hold larger objects). Assuming that such an embodiment has not been on the market and/or described before (which - both! - would make it unpatentable) the question then remains whether or not the new embodiment would be obvious over the existing one. This is a question that can not easily be answered because it depends on a lot of criteria and it may even differe from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
If this would be your question, my advice would be to consult a patent attorney to discuss inventivity of your new emodiment.