First thing you should do is see who owns the patent (it should be on the front page) and see whether they are already practising your idea. If you have an acti

First thing you should do is see who owns the patent (it should be on the front page) and see whether they are already practising your idea. If you have an active and successful competitor that may be much bigger problem than a patent. (Now the ownership information on the patent may be outdated and in that case you may need a patent attorney or paralegal to find the true owner, but it is usually correct). After that, you may follow the path PG suggested. I would never recommend going down that path, because you are really rolling the dice (or maybe because it is bad for my profession) but many people do and turn out ok. If not I would recommend getting some quick oral advice from a patent attorney. When people come to me with such a problem I can usually figure out a way they can get their invention while avoiding the patent. Non patent attorneys usually assume that patents are much broader then they usually are. The scope of a patent is defined by the claims, which are highly technical (in the legal sense) and good claims are very difficult to write. So a good patent lawyer will often find a way around.