Cedar City Patent Attorneys & Lawyers

Key Takeaways

• Creating an LLC for rental property provides personal liability protection and simplifies separating business and personal finances.
• The process of how to buy rental property with an LLC involves forming the LLC, obtaining an EIN, opening a business bank account, and titling the property under the LLC’s name.
• Holding property in an LLC can help with asset protection, estate planning, and tax a

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Key Takeaways

• Patent exhaustion—also called the doctrine of first sale—ends the patent holder’s right to control a product after an authorized sale.
• Once a patented item is sold, the buyer can freely use, resell, or modify it without infringing the patent.
• Patent exhaustion applies to both product and method claims when the sale substantially embodies the patent.
• International sales can trigger exhaustion depending on jurisdiction and recent Supreme Court rulings.
• Careful licensing and claim structuring can help patent owners avoid unintended exhaustion.
• Recent cases such as Lexmark v. Impression Product

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Key Takeaways

• A patent troll (or patent assertion entity) profits from enforcing patent rights rather than producing goods or services.
• These entities often target small and mid-sized businesses, exploiting high litigation costs to pressure settlements.
• Over 60% of U.S. patent lawsuits are filed by patent trolls, many in patent-friendly jurisdictions like Texas.
• Some states, such as North Carolina, have enacted anti-patent troll laws, but such statutes can create jurisdictional challenges for legitimate patent holders.
• Defensive strategies include patent insurance, prior-art investigations, and early engagement with patent counsel.

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Key Takeaways

• Patent infringement inducement occurs when a party encourages or causes another to infringe, even if they don’t directly infringe themselves.
• Liability requires both direct infringement by someone and proof that the inducer knowingly encouraged that infringement.
• Courts have set a high standard of proof: inducement requires intent and knowledge that the acts infringed, not just negligence or recklessness.
• “Willful blindness” can substitute for actual knowledge if a party deliberately avoids confirming infringement.
• Defenses include showing lack of knowledge, non-infringing uses, or absence of direct infri

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Key Takeaways

• Beyond standard defenses, lesser-known patent infringement defenses can include implied waiver, implied license, prosecution disclaimer, prior user rights, and experimental use exceptions.
• Statutory safe harbors like 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1) shield certain research and regulatory activities from infringement claims.
• Prior user rights can be a powerful defense for commercial users who were practicing an invention before patent filing.
• The prosecution history of a patent can limit or narrow claim scope under doctrines like prosecution disclaimer and file wrapper estoppel.
• Courts continue to shape how these defenses apply through evolving case law, making expert legal guidance critical.

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 lega

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