Once granted, a patent generally provides its owner with the right to exclude others, for a limited time, from making, using, or selling anything within that country that falls within the scope of any valid unexpired claim of the patent. Claims can endure for up to a specified period of time, which is typically 20 years from the filing date of the initial application that led to that patent. In the U.S., a patent also provides its owner with the right to exclude others from importing and from offering for sale implementations of the claimed concept.
One of the ways this right to exclude is manifested in the U.S. is via a federal court-ordered injunction prohibiting a proven infringer from engaging in any of those activities.
Such an injunction can force a competitor to stop manufacturing, importing, using, and selling an infringing product, thereby imposing serious costs on your company’s competitor for legal fees, inventory loss, retooling, and/or advertising revisions.
Proven violations of such injunctions can lead to a finding of contempt of court, which can lead to imprisonment and/or severe fines for the infringer.
The right to exclude also can be implemented via court-issued seizure orders, which allow federal law enforcement agencies to take possession of proven infringing goods. Likewise, a court-ordered exclusion order can direct U.S. Customs to prevent infringing goods from entering the country.