Saturday, May 23, 2015

How To Profit From Patent Litigation Contingency Fee Agreements

By Tammie Caldwell


Patent owners could win their infringement on their patent lawsuit if they proved an offender has used their patented idea or technology without their permission. An offender would proceed to demonstrate the patent was either unenforceable, no infringement has occurred or is invalid. The fees attorneys charge for representing aggrieved parties in this kind of cases are quite high. A party may reduce such fees considerably by going for a patent litigation contingency fee kind of arrangement.

Patents are restricted and publicly recognized rights for the use of inventions. Transgression happens when a party other than the recognized patent owner uses, makes or sells it. Patent litigation lawsuits are cases filed arising from disputes of infringements.

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.

During initial consultations, lawyers specializing in infringement on intellectual property evaluate the merits of a case carefully. They try to find out how big the settlement would be. If a case is weak, lacks credibility or has a number of issues, such lawyers often decline to take up the case. When a lawyer takes up such a case, it is because they have confidence of wining once they have invested in adequate effort.

The client needs to help their lawyer when they can, which presents them with higher chances of winning. Prudence is a client providing their lawyer with requested information fast. Formation of excellent relationships between client and lawyer during intellectual property infringement cases is critical. This raises the odds for winning thereby bagging huge settlements and fees.




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