Cedar City Patent Attorneys & Lawyers

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What Is a Patent Infringement Case?

Patent infringement cases result when a patent owner, or any entity who holds sufficient interest in a U.S. patent, files legal action against someone they claim is using the patented creation without permission.

Your defenses in a patent infringement case can include:

• Invalidating the patent
• Claiming non-infringement
• Citing prior use, first sale or repair doctrines, inequitable conduct, patent misuse, or limitation on rights
• Laches, formerly an important defense, may soon no longer be valid

Overview of a United States Patent

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What Does Inducing Infringement Mean?

Inducing infringement means that a party is responsible for someone copying an idea without permission which can take the form of a trademark, copyright, or patent infringement. The party didn't do the infringing, but the infringement is still their fault.

For example, let's say someone invents a self-inflating balloon and then patents it. The inventor then sells the patent to a major company, and now the balloon is sold in every department store. Years later, the inventor says he still owns the patent and sells it to a different company. Once the second company starts selling self-inflating balloons, the first company can sue it for infringement, and it can sue the inventor for inducing infringement. While he didn't infringe

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What is a Patent Troll?

A patent troll is a person or business that buys patents from other companies, files lawsuits against other businesses to blame them for patent infringement, and then profit from the lawsuit instead of producing its own goods or services.

What Do They Do?

Patent trolls typically follow this pattern:

1. Patent trolls send letters to businesses in distress or other targets and offer to buy their patents.

2. After the companies sell their patents, the patent trolls find their victims. Their victims can be businesses that might use a process or design that's like the patents they've just bought.

3. Trolls then threaten to sue those companies for patent infringement.

Patent lawsuits can cost millions of dollars. As a res

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What Is Patent Exhaustion?

Patent exhaustion happens when a patented item, typically under a utility patent, is legally made and sold in the United States and the person who holds the patent gives up all rights to it. 

If you patent your invention and sell it to someone, you give up your rights over the use of that item. This is especially true if the only value in your invention is in its use. This applies to any patented product, but think about your car. The make and model of your car have a patent. As an individual, after you buy the car, you can give it away, sell it, or make any changes you want to it without worrying about being sued by the automaker. However, you can make patented items for sale subject to some terms of sale or license agreements. 

When Patent Exhaustion Doesn't Apply

There are times when patent exhaustion doesn't apply. If your product is sold outsid

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