Patent Infringement: Definition and Meaning

A patent is among the most essential types of intellectual property (IP). Patents normally last for 20 years from their priority date. In jurisdictions where patents are in effect, the owner of a patent can forbid anyone else from producing, using, selling, offering for sale, or supplying the patented product or product created using the patented technique.

The vast majority of today's company owners make use of patents, which grant them a limited period of control over their products or services, in order to maximise the commercialization of their intellectual ideas. Without the patent holder's permission, others are prohibited by law from engaging in the activities of creating, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention. The patent holder is entitled to injunctive remedies, monetary damages, and a share of the profits made as a result of any infringement.

What is Patent Infringement?

Patent infringement occurs when someone creates, sells, imports, uses, or manufactures a product that was created by someone else without authorization. All patent information is available to the public, making it simple to infringe on someone else's patent.

Even if it's easy, breaking the law is never a good idea. If a patent holder decides to take legal action, the court will often intervene to prevent the infringement from continuing and may issue sanctions against the offender, such as monetary damages. Due to the complex nature of many patented concepts, a single patent may give rise to several claims of infringement.

Types of Patent Infringement

Major types are:

Direct Infringement: Without the authorization of the patent owners, someone develops the product. Direct infringement allows the patent owner to prosecute the infringer even if the infringer is unaware of the patent's existence. Whether or not the individual is aware of the patent's existence, they are still prohibited from creating, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the patented invention.

Indirect Infringement: The infringer may not have violated the patent themselves, but they may have actively supported or assisted others in doing so.

Induced Infringement: This is convincing someone to create an innovation that can later be protected by a patent. Many people mean the same thing when they use this word.

Contributory Infringement: A person or organisation facilitates patent infringement by providing a method, component, or finished product. That component or item can't serve any other practical use.

Literal Infringement: In order to show literal infringement in court, the patented product or idea must contain every element of the accused product or concept.

Willful Infringement: When someone else uses your patented ideas or goods without your permission, they are committing willful infringement. Hiring a patent attorney is a straightforward approach to refuting deliberate infringement, as the lawyer will likely warn the client if an infringement is going to occur. In situations of intentional infringement, courts frequently award triple damages, which are large enough to deter infringers.

Stages of Patenting

All patents begin with an inventor conceiving of a fresh and inventive concept or design. Although the inventor may have thought of the concept, they do not yet have any legal claim to it or any compensation for their efforts until the patent is issued.

• Making a provisional patent application is the first official step in the process.

• Your innovation will be regarded as patent-pending once you have filed your provisional patent application. You now have some legal protection in the event that your concept is stolen. The procedure of obtaining a patent for an innovation might be lengthy.

• The provisional patent will protect you for one year from the date of filing; after that, you'll need to submit a non-provisional patent to keep your invention safe. Companies often notify their rivals of their patent-pending status at this point in time. The finalisation of the provisional patent can take many months, and if the inventor asks for a delay, the USPTO may decide not to issue the patent at all.

• A patent is legally binding when it has been issued by the USPTO.

• The patent needs to be renewed every so often. If you forget to renew your patent, it will expire, and others will be allowed to submit their own patent application for the same idea.

What Constitutes Patent Infringement?

In order to ascertain if there has been patent infringement, it is necessary to locate the inventor's claim. Each claim of a patent will be listed numerically, and the ownership of each claim will be shown. All of the patent's asserted claims must be proven true before a claim of infringement may be upheld.

In addition to the claims, the patent will include the inventor's explanation of how to make use of the invention. The next section elaborates on the many assertions made. By doing so, a clearer picture of the invention's contents may be painted. Infringement cases involving the following categories of patents will be analysed using both of these sections:

Conclusion

One must consider the risk to safeguard their intellectual property. When a patent is infringed upon, the rights of the patentee are violated. There are several forms of infringement that require specialised defence strategies. Claims in a patent are what set the limitations of the invention's legal protection; therefore, it's important to know what they signify. The patent's property rights and company operations will be safeguarded by a strong defence in the event of an infringement attack. Infringing items might be "any product to be used entirely for the production of the patented product" or "an indispensable object for the settlement of the problem by the innovation." In light of this, it is important that a patentee understand the various forms of infringement and the responses to them.

FAQs

Q1. What is patent infringement?

Ans. Direct patent infringement occurs when someone makes, uses, sells, attempts to sell, or imports an item without first acquiring a licence from the patent holder. This must be done knowingly and committed within the United States' territory.

Q2. What is the punishment for patent infringement in India?

Ans. According to Section 120 of the Patents Act, if an individual fraudulently represents that any article sold by them is patented in India or is the subject of a patent application in India, they face a fine of up to one lakh rupees.

Q3. Is patent infringement civil or criminal?

Ans. Liability civil offense: Basically, patent infringement is a strict liability civil offense.

Q4. Who is liable for patent infringement?

Ans. A company is usually named as the infringing party in a patent infringement lawsuit. However, there are situations in which the owners or workers of a corporation might be held personally liable for patent infringement lawsuits.