Patent Infringement Analysis

An Overview on Patent Infringement Analysis

In various circumstances, ranging from patent enforcement to creating licencing opportunities, analysing or examining a product or process to determine whether it is infringing a patent assumes relevance. The procedure or product in question should be compared to the patent claims both literally and equivalently in order to conduct a patent infringement analysis. Even while it is customary to compare every aspect of a given claim globally, each country has its own infringement jurisprudence. A thorough understanding of patent law in many countries and a solid technological background are required for assessing patent infringement and providing thorough opinions on infringement.

Some terms you should be familiar with when we discuss the study of patent infringement include the following:

• A person who allegedly violates a new Patent is known as an infringer or offender.
• A contributory infringer is a person who aids in the production or sale of a patented innovation.
• When multiple parties are charged with breaching a single Patent, the phrase "multi infringers" is used.

What does "patent infringement" mean?

Patent infringement occurs when someone imports, uses, sells, or duplicates an invention without the inventor's permission. Although simple, patent infringement is an unlawful or unauthorised conduct. If a patent holder decides to file a lawsuit, the court will frequently intervene to prohibit the unlawful action from continuing and may penalise the offender with penalties including monetary awards to the patent holder. There may be multiple claims of patent infringement because patented ideas or inventions sometimes contain many sections or pieces.

Various types of Patent Infringement

Direct Infringement

Direct infringement occurs when a product is made or created without the owner of the patent's consent. For the patent proprietor to bring a lawsuit for direct patent infringement, the infringer or offender does not have to be aware that the patent exists. Whether or not the person is aware that a patent exists, they are not allowed to create, sell, import, or use a patented invention or production.

Indirect Infringement

Although the infringement did not directly violate the patent, it is possible that they encouraged or assisted in doing so.

Literal Infringement

For this kind of patent infringement to be shown in court, the patented invention must contain every element of the defendant's invention.

Induced Infringement

Persuading someone to create a patented innovation is known as induced infringement, or patent infringement. Indirect Infringement and this phrase are frequently used interchangeably.

Willful infringement

This occurs when a person or business purposefully uses a patent holder's goods or concepts. Hiring a patent attorney is a straightforward strategy to prevent willful infringement because they will almost certainly let their clients know if a violation is about to take place. In cases of willful infringement, a court will typically award treble damages or harms, which because of their severity can help to prevent it.

Contributory Infringement

Contributory infringement is when someone provides a piece of a product to assist another party in violating a patent. There should be no other reasonable usage for that item or component.

What Amounts to a Breach of a Patent?

Finding the portion of the patent that the inventor owns is essential before determining if there has been a violation of the patent. Each Patent claim, together with the Patent claims that each Investor holds, will be listed in a Patent with numbers. All claims contained in the Patent must be supported in order for a case for infringement to succeed.

In addition to the claims, there will also be a section in which the innovator explains how the general public can make use of the idea. The purpose of this part is to clarify the meaning of each Patent claim.

This will help to give an example of what the innovator actually made or invented. Both parts will be utilised to analyse all instances of patent infringement, including those using the various kinds of patents, including design, plant, and utility.

What are claims of patent infringement?

You must be able to demonstrate the invention that was used without your permission in order to successfully assert claims of patent infringement. You must use your patent file as your primary resource to start your claim. When you submit a patent claim, you are asserting or supporting the allegation that your patent has been violated.

You must first demonstrate that your patented item or concept has been used. It is crucial to keep in mind that a new idea can be slightly improved upon or different from the original while still constituting an infringement.

There is a distinction between processes and methods when submitting a patent infringement claim. A person suspected of infringing on a technique may not be held accountable if they had employed the method for at least a year prior to the actual patent's filing.

Understanding the court processes for constructing a Patent Infringement Claim is essential to the analysis of a Patent Infringement Claim. A court will first decide whether the Patent Infringement Claim can be regarded as appropriate. The court will determine whether the asserted patent infringement claims are legitimate for the patented article after the claim terms have been specified.

When making a claim of patent infringement:

• The owner of a patent should make sure that their terms have an understandable and memorable meaning.
• The claim should be adequately supported by the patent specification, not changed.
• If there are multiple ways to read the specifications, you should select the one that makes a claim valid. Each infringement claim should be distinct from the preceding claims.

Definition of Patent Infringement Litigation

The burden of proof for patent infringement rests with the patent owner. That is the same as the idea that a suspect in a criminal case is innocent unless proven guilty. The suspect's innocence is not required by the alleged infringer. It is common to engage expert witnesses to help establish guilt. Due to its expense and unpredictability, patent litigation is frequently regarded as terrifying.

Regrettably, a lot of companies mistakenly believe that when their patent is approved, they automatically have full protection from infringement. This is not always the case; however, when threatened, patent owners are more inclined to file a lawsuit to protect their rights.

Because patents are intellectual property, patent disputes must be heard in federal court, and the patent owner has six months from the claimed infringing event to file a lawsuit. In most cases, a judge rather than a jury decides the outcome of the case.

• Question of Fact: It indicates that either a judge or a jury may render a verdict on the accusations.
• Question of Law: This indicates that the judge, not a jury, will make the final decision in the matter.

Since patent litigation is a civil matter, court decisions on financial damages or injunctions to prevent another party from using a patent frequently follow. the results of patent infringement proceedings resulting from a party using or selling a patented product without the patent owner's permission. Some patent owners file lawsuits to prevent the sale or use of their innovation, while others seek monetary compensation for the unauthorised use that took place.

The patent holder must submit a lawsuit within the six-year statute of limitations following the infringement date in order for the case to be heard. The case may be deemed time-barred if it is submitted after that point. Your rights have been violated when someone utilises your IP to make money from sales. Sadly, expensive patent litigation can prevent many inventors from implementing the recognition of their IPR (Intellectual Property Rights). The majority of infringers are aware of this and are therefore worried about the results.

Patent infringement defence

The most common defence against patent infringement is the patent's invalidity. A patent might not be acceptable for a number of reasons, including:

• The Patent owner was false on the application.
• An individual engaged in unlawful behaviour using a patented product or concept.
• The owner of the patent included inaccurate or misleading information on the patent.
• The Patent violates antitrust and other laws governing competition.
• The conditions for originality and non-obviousness were not met.

The concept or item must be fresh or unique in order to satisfy the requirement of originality. As the invention must be new, it cannot just be an improved version of an existing design. The assertion that the alleged infringement is not covered by the actual Patent claims is another often used defence against a patent infringement claim.

The person who owns the patent must provide proof that the accused or defendant has actually violated the patent in a case of infringement. A preponderance of the evidence must be used to prove patent infringement, according to the law. That simply implies that there must be more substantial proof or evidence to establish that an infringement had taken place.

Avoid Infringing Patents

You need a correct budget if you own a firm or are an investment in order to prevent patent infringement. That is a clear investment that will result in substantial future savings. Lawsuits involving patent infringement are expensive and time-consuming. In an emergency, many attorneys are willing to take cases because the field of patent infringement is expanding and evolving. If they lose the case, they won't get paid. A lawsuit for patent infringement could still be brought against you even if you own a tiny business.

Even if a small corporation holds the patent, you are still at risk. Even if that business cannot afford to hire a patent attorney, it may eventually be acquired by a much larger business that can afford to file a lawsuit.

Do not assume that you are aware of every Patent, as even Patents who specialise in specific fields may not be aware of all recent Patents or technologies for goods that have not yet hit the market. Even if you are very knowledgeable in your field, you could still accidentally infringe on the patents of others.

Consequences for Infringing a Patent

A preliminary injunction, which prohibits the offender from carrying out its actions further, may be granted by the court if it finds that the infringer is harming any property before or during the lawsuit. The person asking for the injunction must demonstrate the following in order for it to be granted:

• If the injunction is granted, the general public's interests won't suffer.
• The likelihood that the case will be successful is very strong.
• If the party breaching is permitted to continue use during the course of legal processes, it may cause the Patent owner further hardship.

Preliminary injunctions can be difficult to obtain and are rarely granted unless a previous decision demonstrated the validity of the patent.

Other punishments include:

Damages

If the infringement is found guilty, the court will typically order them to pay compensation. These courts may include fair royalties, actual damages, or both. The profits that the patent holder lost to the infringer constitute the true damages. Royalties are more influenced by the specifics of the products and the strength of the patent.

Permanent Injunction

If the infringement is found guilty, the court may opt to impose a permanent injunction or post-trial injunction. This order forces the offender to completely cease their unlawful behaviour. If the infringement is found guilty, the court nearly always grants a permanent injunction.

Costs

In cases of patent infringement, the offender frequently has to cover the costs. These expenses include filing fees, court costs, and even the patent owner's attorney fees.

Actions that qualify as Patent Infringement

The following rights are granted to the patentee by the Patents Act (Section 48, 1970):

In the event of a product patent, the following components would constitute infringement: using, selling, making, offering for sale, selling, or importing the product in India for these reasons without the patentee's agreement.

Selling, offering for sale, utilising, or importing would all be considered infringement in the case of a method patent. Due to these factors, using a creation in India that was directly generated from that process without the patentee's consent would be considered infringement.

Any person who carries out the aforementioned actions without the patentee's consent infringes on the patent.

Why Choose us?

On a regular basis, our team of experts and highly skilled Patent Attorneys provide customers with services such as patent infringement identification, infringement searches, analysis, etc. Corpbiz Advisors has years of experience in helping clients launch risk-free products, manage patent litigation, secure strong patents, prevent infringement, and acquire strong patents.