The only way to enforce a U.S. Patent is to file a patent infringement lawsuit against the alleged infringer in U.S. District Court or before the U.S. International Trade Commission. In the U.S., patent infringement litigation is very expensive! It can cost from $400,000 or $500,000 on the low end to several million U.S. Dollars in legal fees and expenses to litigate a patent infringement lawsuit in America. And it can take two or three years – even longer – for a patent infringement lawsuit to come to trial. However, most patent litigation does not go to trial, but is settled out of court.
Under U.S. law, the patent owner who files the lawsuit is the “plaintiff” and the alleged infringer who is being sued is the “defendant”.
A patent infringement lawsuit is won or lost by the expert witnesses called by both sides. Trying a patent infringement lawsuit requires the services of costly patent litigators and costly experts and expert witnesses. Each witness has to be deposed, and that results in more billing by both the expert witnesses and the lawyers conducting the depositions. In addition, there are filing fees, stenographers to transcribe the depositions, the cost of everyone traveling to where the depositions are taken, and many other expenses. And this is all done before a judge or jury hears anything as described in https://inspirationfeed.com/how-inventhelp-can-help-you-protect-your-invention/.
Patent Infringement Lawsuit Outcomes
There are essentially five possible outcomes to a patent infringement lawsuit. And one is clearly the most desirable.
Go to Trial and Lose! You could spend several hundred thousand or a few million U.S. Dollars, go to trial and lose. And in the process be out your entire investment in your patent infringement claim!
Go to Trial and Win: You could go to trial and win your lawsuit, and receive an award from the court for the infringement of your patent. However, it is very likely that the defendant will file an appeal, and it could take years – and a few hundred thousand dollars – for an appeal to work its way through the U.S. legal system. Because the jury award is on hold during an appeal, you will not receive any compensation for the infringement of your patent until the appeal is resolved in your favor!
Abandon Your Claim: If you run out of money – as more than a few patent infringement plaintiffs have – you will have no option but to abandon your claim. You will be out everything you invested in the patent litigation, and you will have received no compensation for the infringement of your patent. And it is impossible to tell at the outset of the patent infringement litigation process what the exact cost of the patent infringement lawsuit will be.
Contact the Infringer: More than a few patent owners decide to forego filing a legal action, and contact the infringer directly, hoping to work out a settlement. This can result under U.S. law in what is called a “declaratory judgment” under which the infringer files a lawsuit against the patent owner, turning the tables on the patent owner, making him the defendant in a lawsuit, and forcing the patent owner to engage a law firm to defend himself against a claim from the infringer as you can see in this https://www.oddee.com/how-inventhelp-can-assist-new-inventors/ post too.
Settle Out of Court: The most significant benefit of an out-of-court settlement is that it is a final agreement among the parties that cannot be appealed. That is why in the U.S. most civil lawsuits in all areas – from personal injury to breach of contract – result in an out-of-court agreement among the parties. And the only way to secure a satisfactory settlement from the infringer is to manage and finance a comprehensive patent enforcement campaign that convinces the infringer that going to trial is too risky!