Patent infringement investigations are among the most complex and most expensive categories of IP litigation. The technical complexity of the underlying patent, the cost of proceedings in the UK Intellectual Property Enterprise Court or the Patents Court, and the often-global nature of the infringement, each require that the claimant enters litigation with the strongest possible intelligence picture: confidence that infringement is occurring, a clear understanding of the mechanism of infringement, and an accurate assessment of the defendant’s financial position and the realistic recovery prospect.
What Patent Infringement Intelligence Establishes
Confirmation of infringement: technical and commercial intelligence establishing that the defendant’s product or process falls within the claims of the patent, which is the foundation of any infringement claim.
The scale of infringement: intelligence about the volume of infringing products or processes in the market, which informs the quantum of damages and the commercial urgency of enforcement action.
Supply chain intelligence: identification of the supply chain through which infringing products reach the market, including any manufacturers, importers, or distributors whose participation makes them potential defendants.
Defendant financial position: an assessment of the defendant’s financial position and assets, which informs the litigation strategy and the prospects for enforcement of any judgment obtained.
Pre-Litigation Intelligence
Pre-litigation patent infringement intelligence can be executed by our corporate investigators and is particularly valuable because it allows the claimant to make an informed decision about whether and how to proceed: whether the infringement is sufficiently clear to support a claim, whether the defendant has assets sufficient to make litigation commercially worthwhile, and whether an alternative approach — licensing negotiation, cease and desist, or administrative action — might achieve the desired outcome more efficiently.
Assessing a patent infringement claim? Contact Bond Rees for expert pre-litigation intelligence.
