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Patent Infringement Is Serious Business!

The entire purpose behind a patent is to protect the invention covered by that patent. When an inventor, business, university or other entity believes that its patent has been infringed, that is a serious matter. The owner of the patent is entitled under law to compensation for the infringement of the patent, but the burden of proof that there is infringement is on the patent owner.

It would be great if there were Patent Police you could call when your patent is infringed, and they would investigate, collect evidence, and bring charges against the infringers. But patent infringement is a civil matter, so the inventor or business or university that owns the patent has to conduct its own investigation, collect evidence, and file a lawsuit against the infringer.

The challenge facing so many patent owners is determining exactly what constitutes “infringement.” For a product to be infringing a patent, the product must “read” on all aspects of at least one Independent Claim in the patent, and the patent owner must be able to prove it – that is, document it.

Infringement of a patent is documented through what is known as a “Claim Chart.” A Claim Chart is typically a two-column format document in which one of the Independent Claims from the patent appears on the left with the specific section of the Claim that has been infringed highlighted or set apart. On the right side of the page, directly across from the Claim, appears evidence that the infringing product does, indeed, “read” on that Claim. In the old days (before the Internet) this would involve looking through product literature, advertisements, catalogs, user manuals, tech notes and other documents to find evidence of infringement. Today, it’s all online. But the work still has to be done to carefully research and locate the smoking gun that documents infringement.

With a Claim Chart – or, as often is the case, several Claim Charts because there are multiple infringers – a patent owner can engage a law firm or contract with a patent assertion firm to pursue the infringers and seek compensation for infringement of its patent. And if the infringing product is generating significant sales, compensation for the patent owner can – and often does – run into the millions!

Proving and documenting that your patent has been infringed is a two-step process, and IPOfferings provides two services that address both of those steps.

• Initial Infringement Analysis: This service studies all possibly infringing products submitted by the patent owner, but also spreads out to concentric products. The analysis comes up with a list of possible infringing products, and ranks each as having a Low, Medium or High probability of infringing the patent. The Initial Infringement Analysis helps you focus your efforts and not waste time and resources on unlikely infringers.
• Claim Chart Development: Based on the results of the Initial Infringement Analysis – and with advice from IPOfferings – the patent owner decides which specific products to have fully researched and documented as infringing the product in the form of Claim Charts. You will not know how many Claim Charts you need until you review the result of the Initial Infringement Analysis. You may order one or two, and based on the results, order additional Claim Charts at a later date.

If we can develop Claim Charts with strong and documented evidence of infringement, we will then assist the patent owner to engage the services of a patent litigation law firm or a patent assertion firm that can launch a patent assertion campaign against the infringers.

IPOfferings is a patent brokerage firm. We help our clients sell, license or otherwise monetize their patents. We are NOT attorneys and IPOfferrings is NOT a law firm. So when there is documented evidence of infringement, we’ve gone as far as we can go with a patent in terms of its infringement. It is time to turn the patent over to patent enforcement professionals.

There is, however, an alternate strategy. Rather than endure the risks of filing a patent infringement lawsuit – you could go to trial and lose, and end up with nothing – you could have IPOfferings represent you in the sale of your patent. A patent that has Claim Charts that document infringement of the patent is a very valuable asset. You will not get as much for the patent as you would if you were to successfully litigate the patent, but you also eliminate the risk of going to trial. IPOfferings can help you evaluate your options and make the best decision.

To learn more about patent enforcement and what your options are as the owner of an infringed patent, visit the Patent Enforcement page at our website. To learn what is involved in asserting an infringement patent, please read our “Remedies-at-Law for Patent Infringement” series.

If you have a patent (or patents) that you believe has been infringed, contact us at 845-337-6911 or [email protected] and request more information and pricing for the Initial Infringement Analysis and Claim Chart Development.

Click to download our Patent Enforcement Services data sheet.