Patents R Us: Learn about Patent Litigation Services for Inventors and Patent Owners

Patent Litigation for Patent Infringement

Patent Litigation Is Your Only Recourse against a Patent Infringer: If you own a patent, and it’s been infringed, there are no Patent Police you can call. Patent infringement is not a crime, so your only opportunity for justice and compensation for the infringement of your patent is to pursue the infringer through civil litigation. You will need to file a patent infringement lawsuit against the infringer, and patent infringement litigation is expensive and lengthy.

What’s Involved in Patent Litigation? Since patents are issued by the federal government, patent litigation begins in a Federal District Court. After anti-trust litigation, patent infringement litigation is the second most expensive type of civil litigation. There are many expenses involved in launching and pursuing patent litigation, and they fall into two broad categories, fees and disbursements:

• Fees: You will need to engage a law firm that specializes in patent litigation. The firm’s attorneys will charge in the range of $200 to $500 an hour, and it will take hundreds or thousands of hours of their time to prepare and prosecute the case.

• Disbursements: There are many out-of-pocket expenses that will be incurred. These include court reports to create transcripts when witnesses are deposed, research that must be conductied, filing fees, travel expenses, hiring expert witnesses and creating trial demonstratives, to name just a few.

Millions of Dollars: It is easy for patent litigation costs to quickly run into the millions of dollars. In fact, the median cost for a patent infringement lawsuit is $4 million! However, there are ways to finance these costs. There are patent litigation law firms and patent enforcement firms that will take patent infringement litigation on a contingency basis. That is, they will front all the expenses and be paid from the proceeds of the litigation. If they fail to produce an award or settlement, these firms get nothing. If you believe you are the victim of patent infringement, and you want to pursue the infringers, our free Patent Litigator Referral Service will refer you to a patent litigation law firm or patent enforcement firm that represents clients on a contingency basis.

Patent Litigation Possible Outcomes
It will take from two to five years – sometimes even longer – for your case to come to trial, and there are several possible outcomes:

• Award after Trial: If you actually go to trial, the court could find in your favor and determine an award. The award will be what the court believes is fair compensation for the use of your patent. If you practice your patent (you use your patented invention to produce a product or service), the award will include lost profits created by sales of the infringer’s competing products and services. If you do not practice your patent, the award will be what you would have received in licensing fees had the patent infringer licensed your patent.

• No Award: The court could find that the defendant did not infringe your patent, so you could receive nothing.

• Dismissal: It is possible that at some point in the process, the defendant’s attorneys will convince the court that you do not have a valid claim, and case will be dismissed. And you will get nothing.

• Out-of-Court Settlement: Outcomes 1, 2 and 3 are fairly rare. The most likely outcome is an out of court settlement in which the parties meet and work out a settlement that may not completely please anyone, but at least both parties can live with it. Going to trial is risky for both parties − either side can win big or lose big! So it is common for both sides to get together and agree on a settlement. Unfortunately, rather than occurring two months or six months or even a year into the patent litigation, an out-of-court settlement is often not reached until two or three years into the litigation, and often just before the trial date. Both sides hang tough until one side finally gives in and agrees to meet to negotiate a settlement. The other advantage of an out-of-court settlement is that it cannot be appealed, while a verdict at trial can.

• Settlement after Award: The other likely outcome is that the plaintiff will win the litigation at trial, but the defendant will succeed in appealing the verdict. In such cases, rather than waiting years for a new trial, both sides will meet and reach a settlement.

• Millions of Dollars: The good news is that settlements in patent infringement litigation can run into the millions of dollars. More than a few patent owners whose patents were infringed became millionaires as a result of successful patent infringement litigation!

Represent Yourself? Never a good idea. There is an expression in law that the person who represents himself in court has a fool for a client. Nowhere is that saying more appropriate than in litigation as complex as patent infringement. Also, if you take your case to a patent infringement litigation law firm or a patent enforcement firm, and the firm will not take your case on a contingency basis, it is very likely that you simply do not have a valid patent infringement claim.