According to U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office, a patent is referred to as a “property right granted by the government of the united states of America to an inventor to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.” Patent rights expire within 20 years from when the patent application was filed. It can expire earlier if the required maintenance fee is not paid to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). For there to be a patent litigation case, then there must have been a patent infringement.
What is patent infringement?
According to an article titled Patent Infringement: Everything You Need to Know by UpCounsel, Patent infringement occurs “when someone, sells, imports, uses or makes a product that someone else invented without permission.” Therefore whenever a person does any of the acts mentioned above regarding a patent, then a person is said to have committed patent infringement.
How do you prove a patent infringement case?
Patent infringement cases are among the most complex cases brought before a court of law. Even though the legal claim is written in an easy-to-understand format, the issue at hand is always technical and, most times, difficult to understand. For instance, when a person in the field of aeronautics develops a patent, it would not be understood easily because the knowledge of that field is unknown to a layperson.
This is where legal animation comes in. If you do not want to sabotage your patent infringement case, you should not think twice before choosing animation as the conduit pipe through which your evidence would be expressed.
There are two major elements in proving patent infringement. They are as follows:
- Ownership of the patent by the plaintiff
The first element to be proven is the ownership of a patent. After all, you cannot claim infringement if there is no patent to work with. The only way to prove ownership of a patent is to show documentation of the registration of such patent to the USPTO.
It must be noted that patent rights can be transferred and assigned to a third party. Therefore, documentation in this regard must be provided to the court. Now, when proving ownership, documentation is not enough. Even if you can show that your patent is registered with the USPTO, you also have to ensure that the court comprehends the bulk of what your patent is. This would make proving the infringement much easier. While proving ownership, you also need to prove the validity of your patent. The patent must be valid according to the U.S. Patent Act.
- Infringement of the patent by the defendant
To bring a claim in patent infringement, there must have been a particular infringement. You must adequately identify the infringer, the infringement, and the similarity between the patent and the defendant’s patent. Identifying the right party is an essential aspect of law as you cannot sue the wrong party. In some instances, there may be more than one infringer. Also, the particular infringement must be proved. In doing this, an expert witness can be brought in to further clear doubts. Also, legal animation should be a major backbone in effectively communicating your point to the court.
In addition, the similarity between the patent infringed upon and the defendant’s patent must be proved. This is often seen as the most complex aspect of the case. In identifying this similarity, do not think of using auditory evidence, charts, maps, or graphs. They cannot be as effective as trial animation. It becomes easier to include all the essential points and explain them effortlessly with trial animation. With trial animation, you can be sure the jury would understand and remember what the entire patent is about.
Therefore, in using trial animations to prove your patent infringement case, you must enlist a good animation company. This is because of the technicality of the case. If attention is not paid to every minute detail, then your animation would be only as effective as a piece of auditory evidence. Therefore, you must use the assistance of an experienced animation company to win your patent infringement case.
