So You've Got A Patent!

Jane Lambert

Congratulations! It probably took a little longer to get than you expected. It almost certainly cost you more money than you had bargained for.  But so long as you pay the renewal fees you have an asset that is bound to make your fortune. Right?

Well, not exactly. You have a right to stop other people from making, marketing, importing or selling something that you have invented but a patent is not a meal ticket. It exists to give you an opportunity to recoup the time and money you spent in devising the invention and perhaps a little extra on the side either by working the patent yourself or by licensing it to others. Whether you can do that or not will depend on whether anybody wants to buy your invention.

If there is a market for the invention, there is always a possibility that somebody will want to muscle in. Such a person may want to do it fairly by seeking a licence from you or by using a technology that does not infringe your patent, but there are also those who would try to sweep your patent out of the way in revocation or declaration of non-infringement proceedings or simply ignore your patent if they don't think you can afford to enforce it.  Unlike some other intellectual property rights such as copyright, trade marks, rights in performances or, nowadays, registered designs, it is not an offence to infringe a patent in this country even if it is done quite blatantly, cynically and on an industrial scale.

If anyone infringes your patent you have to sue and patent litigation is not cheap. You can't use the small claims track of the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court ("IPEC") because the rules specifically exclude patents, registered and registered Community designs, semiconductor topography and plant variety claims from that tribunal.  You can use the IPEC multitrack but you have to be prepared to pay up to £50,000 if you lose the case and probably a great deal more than that to your own legal team. That is a lot better than the Patents Court where the costs that can be awarded against you are unlimited and can run into millions.

So unless you are a millionaire, your company is really coining it or you have some other source of funding you should consider before-the-event insurance cover against IP disputes before a dispute arises (see my article It is never enough to get a patent, trade mark or registered design 19 Aug 2019 and my links to other articles). It is unrealistic to expect a lawyer specializing in IP to represent you on a no-win no-fee basis because the risks, costs and wait for payment are too great however strong your case. IP insurance is not cheap but it is a lot better than bankruptcy or watching a competitor ride roughshod over your rights.

So, what should you do if you think that someone is infringing your patent? Well, one thing you should not do is take matters in your own hands and write a stroppy letter to the other side. S.70 of the Patents Act 1977 and subsequent sections prohibit threats of patent infringement proceedings that cannot be made out. If you make such a threat (however politely) you risk an action for an injunction, declaration and costs that could cost you plenty. Any lawyer or patent attorney with any experience of patent litigation will be aware of this section but many non-specialist lawyers aren't. If they make a groundless threat on your behalf it is you who will have to carry the can.

Where do you find a specialist lawyer? Any firm that belongs to the Intellectual Property Lawyers Association should be able to help you. There are good solicitors in other firms but you have to be careful because not every solicitor who claims experience of IP has actually done a patent case.  Another possible option is a patent attorney litigator.  Not every patent attorney has expertise in civil litigation but there is a growing number who have. The CIPA and IPReg websites should help you find one. Yet another option is to consult a member of the IP Bar. We are advocates and not litigators but we are probably in a better position than most to recommend a good litigator.

Civil proceedings begin with the service or delivery of a claim form on the alleged wrongdoer.  The claim form is usually accompanied by another document known as particulars of claim. Those particulars must state the facts on which you base your claim and the remedy that you want precisely. In a patent infringement claim, your particulars of claim must state which of the claims of your patent is alleged to have been infringed and give at least one example of at least one alleged infringement.  The "claims" are the numbered paragraphs at the end of your patent specification setting out the features of your invention.  The reason they are set out in numbered paragraphs is that if one of them is too broad you may still be able to rely on one of the others. If your invention is a product the patent is infringed by making, marketing, importing or using a product that has all the features of at least one of the claims.

It is possible that the alleged infringer will accept the strength of your case and seek a settlement or simply throw in the towel but you cannot bank on that. He or she may challenge your interpretation of the claim and argue that his or her product falls outside its wording,  It is likely that he or she will dispute the validity of the patent on one of several grounds.  If your opponent can show that someone else invented exactly the same thing before you applied for your patent can be revoked (taken away) on the grounds that your invention was not new. Another possible ground for revocation is that your invention would have been obvious to anyone with the appropriate skills and knowledge having regard to everything that was known at the time of your application.  You might think that all this would have been considered by the examiner when you applied for your patent but the sad fact is that the time and resources that are available to an examiner are nothing like the time and resources that your opponent will expend in order to knock out your patent.  A surprisingly large number of patents are revoked in whole or in part when patentees bring infringement claims.

If you win your action you will be awarded an injunction and a contribution to your legal fees which will be limited to £50,000 if you brought your claim in IPEC.  You would probably get more if you sue in the Patents Court but even the awards in that court are unlikely to cover everything you spent. An injunction is an order by a judge to do or not to do something. If it is disobeyed the court may punish the defendant with a fine or even imprisonment.  What you will not get at this stage is damages or accountable profits.  That will require another hearing known as an account or inquiry which may take place several months or even a year or so in the future. That will also cost a lot of money,

There is obviously a lot more to patent enforcement than I can mention in a short note.  The important thing is to think about enforcement and arrange to fund it whether by insurance or otherwise well before a dispute arises. If you want to discuss this article or anything relating to it, call me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.

Business and Technical Information from Patent Databases

Jane Lambert

An invention is a solution to a technical problem. When applying for a patent for an invention, the inventor has to file among other things a document known as a "specification".  Such specification must contain a description of the invention and any drawing referred to in the description and disclose the invention in a manner which is clear enough and complete enough for the invention to be performed by a person skilled in the art. In due course, the specification is examined by officials of the intellectual property office known as "examiners" for compliance with the legislation governing patents and published on the office's website for all to see.

As an invention has to be new and involve an inventive step to justify a patent, such publications are important sources of scientific and technical information.  Many of those publications are held on giant databases such as the UK Intellectual Property Office's Ipsum, the European Patent Office's Espacenet and Google Patents.

These are two good reasons for consulting such a database.  The first is that you have an invention for which you seek a patent. You will want to check the prior art to ascertain whether your invention really is new and does involve an inventive step.  In almost every case your patent attorney will do that for you when you first instruct him but, if there is something out there that you can spot for yourself, you can save yourself a lot of time and money and instruct him more effectively by making your own search.  The second good reason is to find out about the latest technology.  In Why researchers should care about patents, the European Patent Office offers three advantages:

• Avoiding duplication of R&D efforts and spending; 
• Finding solutions to technical problems; and
• Gathering business intelligence. 

Henk Heus actually gives 10 Reasons Why Research Scientists Should Patent Search though these seem to be substantially the same as the EPO's (see 29 Oct 2015 GQ Life Sciences). According to Heus, up to 30% of R&D expenditure is wasted on duplicating research that has already been carried out.
Different databases will allow you to search in different ways.  With Ipsum, you need the application or publication number and the first page will look like this:

From the menu in the top right-hand corner, you can select the documents that you need.  Nearly every transaction relating to the invention will be recorded on Ipsum. So if you want to trace the prosecution history this is the place to go.   Espacenet and Google will allow you to search by proprietor, title and other search terms as well as by number.  These are the tools that you will use to make a more general enquiry,

When you find an invention that interests you can choose the full specification or the parts of the specification that interest you most such as the abstract, description, drawings or claims. The abstract will be a summary of the invention.  The description is essentially an instruction manual. It will identify the problem that the invention seeks to solve, discuss previous attempted solutions where they fell short. set out the solution in principle and then give an example.  It may do that by reference to numbered diagrams known as the "drawings".  At the end of the specification, there will be numbered paragraphs known as "the claims". That is the monopoly sought by the applicant.  Usually, the widest is expressed first and all subsequent ones tend to be narrower than the first rather like a matryoshka doll.    You should remember at all times that the specification is addressed to the "person skilled in the art", that is to say, the person or team of persons having the knowledge, skills and experience to make or use the invention.  Some words or terms may have a special meaning which is different from everyday usage.

While not essential, some introductory training in patent searching can help at the start.  Patent search workshops have been offered from time to time by the British Library and some of the other Business and IP Centres around the country. I shall be giving a short one-hour introduction to patent, trade mark and design searches and how to read patent specifications at the Menai Science Park on Angelsey between 13:30 and 14:30 on 29 Nov 2019 (see How to use Patent, Trade Mark and Registered Design Databases 2 Nov 2019 NIPC Wales). If you want to sign up for the class which is free, click here.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or patents generally should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page.