Hypothetical Question
I recently sent for some plans to build a certain piece of equipment. I have miniaturized that piece of equipment,making many changes due to its small size. Do I owe the seller of the large version plans anything if I sell my plans for the miniaturized version?
How about if I build and sell my version of the piece of equipment?
IANAL, but this is pretty basic. If the other party has patent protection on the device or any portion of it, then yes, you have to negotiate for rights, and he doesn’t have to agree to let you. If he is using someone else’s patent under license, then you have to negotiate with them instead.
The only legal way out of paying royalties is to show that what you’re doing takes your plans out of the areas claimed by any existing patents, even if they’re only pending and not issued. You’d have to read the patents yourself to have any idea.