We provide a cost effective way of dealing with patents

We are able to provide a patent service tailored to the needs of engineers. Should the services of a patent lawyer be required however, such as attending a hearing at the Patent Office, we are able to call upon the services of a patent law company.

Case Study

Company involved   Manufacturer of Mail room equipment

Reason for requested service    The Company had received threats from a major competitor. They alleged that the Company were infringing at least 10 of their patents, and that they were liable to pay many millions of dollars in compensation.

Work carried out to defend the Company’s position    All patents cited by the competitor were studied in detail in order to determine exactly what they covered.

A number of products of the Company were named in the competitor letter. These were studied in detail also, and their functions compared to those of the cited patents.

Some of the cited patents were easily dismissed at this stage as it was apparent that they had little or no bearing on the Company’s products.

Following this step 2 patents remained which could potentially prove a threat.

Tables were drawn showing functions of the machines against claims of the relevant patents. It was apparent that the threats were not very great The remaining problem areas were associated with one market only (USA). The functions in question were controlled by software. Following discussion with the Company’s engineers this was modified to change the way the functions were performed, effectively side stepped the issue.

Follow up action    Following this work the Company’s own patents were studied to identify any which were possibly infringed by the competitor. A list of 20 patents were identified, and a letter sent to the competitor issuing similar threats to those received.

Result    The competitor backed down and negotiated an exchange agreement whereby a certain number of patent rights could be exchanged between the two companies, each year, at nominal cost.

We are always ready to discuss your ideas and advise on how to gain suitable protection for them. An initial consultation will not cost you anything, so give us a call. Work is always carried out to a quotation so will never cost any more than expected.

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