So what is patent infringement? It is the act of making, using, selling, or offering to sell a patented invention, or importing into the US a product covered by a claim of a patent without the permission of the patent owner. In addition, those who encourage others to infringe patents, or supplying or importing components of a patented invention, and related acts can also give rise to liability in certain cases.
A patent owner can then sue you in federal court. If the owner is able to prove infringement, then the court may order you to pay monetary damages and/or stop infringing one or more patent claims. Otherwise, the court may conclude that the patent claim is not valid due to invention being disclosed in other sources or offered for sale.
As we all know, the consequences of a patent infringement can be quite harsh. In an earlier post I talked about Apple v. Samsung, which dealt with patent infringement. The result of this case were millions of dollars in damages. So I will definitely watch out for patent infringement in the future.
Good job with your explanations this time. They're concise but very thorough.
ReplyDeletePatents should be dealt with in court, however I agree with you that it is important to determine whether a patent is actually being infringed upon or taken advantage of for monetary gain. Thanks for the warning to watch out for patent infringement!
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