Patent Litigation
Patent litigation can be a bet-the-company proposition for both patent owners and accused infringers. Patent litigation is complex, not only due to the technologies involved, but also due to the number of legal issues that are usually involved. In most patent cases, whether the patent is infringed or invalid often turns on the court’s construction of the language of the claims. HBD is uniquely situated to handle such litigation.
The attorneys in HBD’s Patent and Technology group are skilled patent litigators and have extensive experience litigating all stages of patent infringement cases, both on behalf of the patent holder and on behalf of the accused infringer. We have brought and defended many patent infringement cases through trial in Federal Courts throughout the United States and have handled numerous appeals before the Federal Circuit. These cases have involved many different technology areas, including electronics, semiconductors, software, telecommunications, and Internet; FDA-approved drugs and medical devices; chemical engineering and materials science; and media and entertainment. As most of our cases have required court construction of a multitude of patent claim types and claim terms, our attorneys have valuable experience in handling claim construction issues.
Although we do not prepare or prosecute patent applications before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, many of our attorneys are registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and have prior experience successfully prosecuting patent applications. In patent litigation, this prior patent prosecution experience gives our attorneys the ability to understand the issues that faced the patent prosecution attorneys and patent examiners when they prosecuted the patent application being litigated. This knowledge and experience of the patent prosecution process also provides our attorneys with the ability to advise clients and their patent prosecution counsel on any post-issuance matters, such bringing and opposing requests for reexamination or reissue, and understanding the possible effects of such procedures on the pending or proposed litigation.
The vast majority of patent rights are not determined through litigation, but are instead resolved privately through patent licensing. We have assisted our clients to enforce their patents and patent portfolios through licensing programs, in which the patent is offered for license on reasonable terms to all companies in a particular industry or a group of similarly-situated companies. Such licensing programs involve substantial analysis of the patent and its claims before initiating such a program and involve engaging potential licensees in face-to-face meetings to discuss the technical and legal issues involved in a company’s choice between litigation and licensing.
