Discovering infringement

How do you discover that someone else may be infringing on your patent? That's the question we asked Russ Weinzimmer, a patent attorney whose practice works with individuals and small companies to help them protect their inventions and intellectual property. Here's what he told us:

The patent holder is responsible for discovering infringements, so if you own a patent and you’re concerned about infringers, the simplest thing to do in today’s world would be to go onto Google and search for your invention. If you are the only one you find, then you’re in good shape. If you find that there are ten companies making the same thing and your patent attorney determines that each one of them is practicing the invention as defined in the claims that were issued, then you have found your infringers.

Recoverable damages

Weinzimmer says that if you discover that someone has infringed on your patent, the amount of damages will depend on whether the patent infringement was willful. He explained:

If they were infringing with knowledge of your patent, you can get three times the monetary damages plus your attorneys' fees. If it wasn't willful, a court can still find that they were infringing and they can still be liable for damages for whatever financial harm they did to you by practicing the invention.

He told us that his firm works with other firms who will litigate these matters. While his firm manages the litigation done by professional litigation law firms, his firm does not do litigation in-house. That being said, his firm works with the best litigators around. He continued:

We are working with Michael Steir who led the litigation for Cognex Corporation in the Lemelson lawsuit. Jerome Lemelson had many companies that were obligated to pay him royalties for patents that were found to be invalid. Lemelson was one of the most prolific inventors in the world in the sense that he had one of the largest patent portfolios in the world. His patent attorney was one of the richest patent attorneys in the world based on his assertion of Lemelson’s patent portfolio. Michael Steir managed the litigation, and defeated them. His services would be available to others through Russ Weinzimmer & Associates, PC.