Saturday, May 23, 2015

Benefiting From Patent Litigation Contingency Fee Agreements

By Tammie Caldwell


A patent owner would win an infringement on their patent case should they prove that an offending party used their patented technology and idea without permission. A defendant would then attempt to demonstrate that the patent in question was either invalid, unenforceable or no infringement had taken place. Fees charged by attorneys to represent aggrieved individuals or institutions in such cases are often high. An option to reduce such expenses would be taking advantage of patent litigation contingency fee arrangements.

You get a patent as public recognition with restriction rights on the use of your invention or idea. Someone infringes on these rights by selling, using or making your invention without your express permission. You are engaging in patent litigation when you sue a person who has infringed on your patent.

Taking advantage of contingent fee arrangements reduces out of pocket costs. In such an arrangement, the attorney deducts their fees from a settlement amount. Certain expenses, however, require out of pocket payment such as expert witness hiring, travel, transcripts, filing fees and conduction of depositions.

This kind of arrangement enables aggrieved inventors to pursue their intellectual property breach lawsuit that they could not have otherwise afforded. The inventor also gets to minimize risks of losing the litigation for they pay their lawyers not for the period worked but for results. In this kind of agreement, the lawyer is highly motivated to settle the case should it be in the best interest of their client.

As the lawsuit progresses, an offender and their attorney may offer to settle a case with the payment of a settlement amount much lower than a plaintiff is seeking. Should a weakness be apparent within the lawsuit, an attorney could advice their client to consider settling. On the other hand, should the defending attorney be confident of winning, they could advice their client to wait for complete trial since they would get a bigger settlement amount to their benefit.

Upon taking a case on contingent fee basis, intellectual property attorneys perform their best in order to make the litigation process less time consuming and cost effective. This is in contrast with attorneys who charge their clients by the hour. Such attorneys conduct long and numerous depositions. They prepare long proceedings and send a number of attorneys to conferences and hearings. These activities increase the hours worked on a lawsuit. These kind of activities rarely take place if the attorneys are charging their client on contingency fees arrangements.

Once an intellectual property infringement lawyer is consulted, they will evaluate a case very carefully to find out how high a settlement would be. Should the case be weak, have numerous issues or lack credibility, most lawyers may decline the engagement. Should a lawyer take a case, it would be because of their confidence in winning on investment of adequate efforts.

Your attorney needs all the help they can get from you, which gives them better chances of success in the lawsuit. You would be prudent to provide all requested information immediately. Having a wonderful working relationship with your lawyer during a lawsuit about breach of your intellectual property rights is vital. It will raise your odds of winning a big settlement and large fees for both of you.




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