Our FREE guide identifies 70+ tactics for harnessing the power and value of IP assets.  

As explained in that guide, some of the most common tactics to harness the power and value of a patent include:

• distinguishing its inventors and owners, such as by 
  • publishing and promoting their technical prowess, innovativeness, and skill;
  • creating an aura of innovativeness, intelligence, and skill;
  • attracting investors, customers, licensees, and alliances;
• creating and enhancing revenue, such as by:
  • requiring competitors to pay licensing fees and royalties for the right to use or sell the innovation;
  • landing related deals;
  • carving out exclusivity in the marketplace;
  • enabling enhanced downstream pricing & terms (sole seller); and/or
  • empowering enhanced upstream pricing & terms (sole buyer).
• discouraging competitors from entering or staying in a market, such as via:
  • injunctions
    • e.g., shutting down competitor's research, production, marketing, web site, etc.
    • e.g., seizing and destroying imported knock-offs
  • damages
    • at least a reasonable royalty
    • possibly the patent owner's lost profits
    • possibly treble damages for willful infringement
  • costs & attorneys fees (in exceptional cases)

If desired, a patent sometimes can be legally enforced against potential and/or actual competitors to prevent the making, using, offering for sale, and/or selling in, and/or importing into, the country in which the patent is in force, anything that falls within the scope of the valid unexpired claims of that patent.

Such enforcement can often be achieved outside the judicial system, such as via a simple “Patent Pending” notice on the patent owner’s goods.  

At other times, enforcement can require the threat and/or filing of a lawsuit alleging infringement of the patent.  If the parties are unable to settle a dispute early in the suit, the litigation costs can become very expensive and time-consuming for both parties.  Fortunately, the vast majority of patent infringement suits settle early.  

Also, for those who do not have the financial means to enforce a patent, patent assertion insurance sometimes can be purchased that will provide the financial muscle to litigate all the way to an enforceable judgment, after being upheld on appeal, if necessary. 

Patent rights only arise upon issuance of a patent.  Thus, only an issued patent can be legally enforced against competitors.  We would be happy to discuss how we can assist with preparing for enforcing and actually enforcing your patent rights.

Often, the patent owner is willing to allow competitors to make, use, and/or sell the innovation, provided that the competitors pay the patent owner for the right to do so.  A document that provides for the grant of such rights and the associated payments is called a “Licensing Agreement”.  Please feel free to contact us to discuss how we can help you develop a strategy for licensing patent applications and/or issued patents, negotiating the terms of a Licensing Agreement, and drafting the language of that Agreement.

Sometimes, a published patent application and/or an issued patent can serve as an advertisement of the technical capabilities of the inventors and/or the patent owner.  The audience for that message can be potential investors, customers, employees, competitors, and/or suppliers, etc.  We would be delighted to discuss how we can help with enhancing that message and/or utilizing the patent document to obtain the desired and optimal impact on the intended audience.