Patent Infringement: Enforcement

You have patented your invention, and now somebody is using it without your permission. You went through the required process that was supposed to protect your invention. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be working the way you thought it would. What can you do now?

In cases of patent infringement, you can protect your patented invention in a civil court. You become the plaintiff in a civil case. If you win the case, this gives you the monetary reimbursement that you should have gotten for allowing the person to use your patent.

Unfortunately, it is not as simple as it sounds. The person that you are suing will most likely try to prove that your patent is invalid or unenforceable. Before you bring the case to court, you should make sure that your patent meets all of the requirements that it is supposed to.

Your patented invention should be new, non-obvious, and useful. If any one of these conditions is not met in any way, the defendant can claim that your patent is invalid. This puts that person well within his or her rights to use the invention without your permission.

You should be sure that your patent is new, and that you applied for the patent no more than one year after the invention was first used in public. You should also make sure that you can prove that it is non-obvious, and that the general public benefits from it.

A Patent Litigation Lawyer Can Help

If you are considering patent litigation against someone, contact the patent litigation attorneys of Williams Kherkher at 800.761.3187.