Patent Infringement: Types, Consequences, and Legal Remedies

Patent Infringement: Types, Consequences, and Legal Remedies

In today’s competitive business landscape, patent infringement has become a major concern for innovators and organizations. With industries such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, electronics, and software rapidly growing, protecting patent rights is essential. Unauthorized use of a patented product, design, or process can result in patent violation and serious legal disputes.

Types of Patent Infringement

There are several ways in which infringement of patents can occur:

1. Direct Infringement – Manufacturing or using a patented invention without permission.
2. Indirect Infringement – Assisting, encouraging, or contributing to another party’s patent violation.
3. Literal Infringement – When the product or process is identical to the claims of the patent.
4. Doctrine of Equivalents – When the accused product performs substantially the same function in the same way, even if it is not identical.

Consequences of Patent Infringement

The consequences of patent rights infringement are severe. Courts may issue injunctions, stopping further production or sales of the infringing product. Monetary damages, including compensation, lost profits, and royalty payments, can also be imposed. In cases of willful patent violation, courts may grant enhanced damages, making infringement extremely costly for businesses.

Legal Remedies for Patent Infringement

Patent owners have multiple legal remedies available under intellectual property law:

• Injunctions to prevent continued infringement.
• Damages and Royalties to compensate for financial loss.
• Account of Profits where infringers must hand over profits earned from unauthorized use.
• Seizure of Goods in cases of large-scale patent rights infringement.

Defenses Against Patent Infringement

Accused parties often defend themselves by claiming:

• The patent is invalid due to lack of novelty or inventive step.
• Their activities fall outside the scope of the patent claims.
• The patent holder failed to comply with legal requirements, such as maintenance fees.

Avoiding Patent Infringement

Businesses can protect themselves by conducting patent searches, carrying out freedom-to-operate (FTO) analysis, and obtaining proper licensing agreements. Regular intellectual property audits also help in avoiding unintentional infringement of patents.

Patent infringement cases not only disrupt businesses but also discourage innovation. By respecting intellectual property rights and seeking legal advice, organizations can prevent disputes and build a strong foundation for growth. Enforcing and protecting patent rights remains crucial for inventors and companies in a highly competitive global market.

A patent application is a formal form of request pending approval from the authorized patent office for the granting of a patent for an invention that is described in the patent specification. In the Indian subcontinent, the complete patent registration process includes a series of steps that need to be compulsorily followed to get a patent in India, however, any such patent granted by the Indian laws shall be limited only to the geographical area of the Indian subcontinent and not beyond that. This is where international patent filing and application and grant of patent comes to the force. The Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international treaty that allows for seeking patent protection for any invention at any instant in a large number of countries by filing a single patent that is recognised globally instead of going through the hassle of filing patents in several separate countries or multi-regional patent applications.

International Patent Filing 

It should be known that an applicant does not apply for an “international patent” when the applicant applies for the same under the PCT, the World Intellectual Property Organisation is the nodal authority administering the applications under the PCT. It must be known that the WIPO does not grant international patents but under the PCT filing process it produces the patent application that has passed initial compliance formalities of filing, knock out search, and evaluation to the national patent offices of as many country members of the PCT as the applicant wishes for, thereafter they are filed for the national phase of that particular country. Thereby the WIPO through PCT patent filing streamline the process for allowing patent protection in various countries by a single series of steps and prerequisites.

Patent Infringement Proceedings

European Union

The European Union after years of debate and preparation started the operations of the Unified Patent Court, such introduction involves the creation of a single court that can hear European Union patent disputes across borders bringing about a fundamental change to the patent disputes that were litigated prior to such establishment, “The UPC is an international court common to currently seventeen EU Member States, in which the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) is in force.”

The UPC offers a specialized, uniform and efficient framework for patent litigation at a European level, it hears upon revocation and infringement suits. The jurisdiction of the court is exclusive in respect of “classic” issues related to patents in the European region.

United States Of America

In the case of Brown v. Duchesne, 60 US 183 (1856) it was firmly established that the United States Patent laws are limited to the bounds of United states,  it was ruled that the power granted by patent rights and laws is a power that is domestic in character and “ necessarily confined within the limits of the United States”, patent infringements suits subject to the American jurisdiction are at first instance filed in the U.S. federal district courts, and their respective appeals if any including any counterclaims are of exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Court Of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), any district court decision that involves and issue related to patent laws are subject to review by the CAFC.

The extra-territorial application of US Patent laws owes its origin to the case of Deepsouth Packing Co. v. Laitram Corp,wherein the defendant was “manufacturing all of the components of a patented shrimp de-veining mechanism and then shipping the components, unassembled, overseas for assembly and use. Since the claimed device was not made, used or sold in the United States there was no direct infringement.”, following the suit congress enacted 35 USC, Sec 271(f) and Sec 271(g) in 1984, creating a first for framing statutory basis for a form of extraterritorial application of United States patent laws.