Things To Take Into Account Before Filing A Lawsuit For Patent Infringement

Patents offer legal recognition to the right of an inventor to stop unscrupulous individuals from making use of his or her original invention for their own advantage. They allow the inventor to bring in prosecution against any person or company that is caught making such unlawful use of his product or the process for its manufacture. However, you have to keep some important aspects in mind when looking for a legal option against patent infringement.

Firstly, you are required to make sure that your patented product has been literally infringed. In other words, it must infringe all the essential features of your patented product. In some rare cases even if not all these features have been copied by the alleged offender, the patent can still be treated as having been infringed. However, the infringing product should be based on similar principles and produce the same result as the original product for such a claim for infringement to be upheld in the court of law.

Secondly, you cannot be an outsider and take legal action against the alleged offender, which implies that you should have some direct connection with the patent. You can either be the owner of the patented product or a licensee - exclusive or partial - of the product in order to be eligible for filing a suit for infringement. You would also be required to file a case within the time span stipulated by the limitation law of the country, after which any claim would become invalid.

Although you can proceed against not only the producer of the counterfeit product but also against the person who uses the product, any such step can be taken only while the patent lasts. No unauthorized usage of the product can be considered a deliberate infringement after the lapse of the patent.

Notwithstanding the strict liability principle that patents are governed by, the use of a patented product for research work does not amount to an infringement under the patent laws for most countries.

Discover more about trademark registration Singapore and discover how does a patent lawyer and IP protection increase the net worth of your business very fast.

categories: protecting business ideas,business value,Intellectual property,IP law,IP lawyer,trademarks,patents,ideas protection,copyright

Published by: Aimee Sanchez on November 7th, 2009 | Filed under Intellectual Property



Leave a Comment

rss feed