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How are patents enforced?
Starting on the date a patent is issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent gives its owner the right to prevent all others from engaging in a number of activities. The patent grants its owner the right to exclude all others from making, using, selling or offering to sell the invention in the United States, as well as the right to exclude others from importing the invention into the United States. "Infringement" occurs when an unauthorized party makes, uses, sells or offers to sell a patented invention in the United States, when an unauthorized party imports a patented invention into the United States, or when a party induces another party to engage in any of these activities.
Typically the first step a patent owner takes to enforce the patent against an infringing party is simply to inform that party of its infringing acts. This is often accomplished with a warning letter providing the accused infringer with a copy of the patent and informing that party that it is infringing. Very often, the patent owner will also include an offer to license the invention to the infringing party. In many situations, the warning letter and/or the license offer will resolve the situation.
If the infringing party continues to infringe after receiving the warning letter, the patent owner may approach a federal district court to seek legal assistance in enforcing his rights against the infringer. The patent owner may request that the court order the infringing party to stop its infringing acts. Such an order is called an injunction. An injunction may be temporary or permanent. Often along with, or instead of, seeking an injunction, a patent owner files a civil lawsuit in a federal district court accusing the potential infringer of infringing a U.S. patent. All parties take these cases very seriously, as the damaging effects of patent infringement can be extremely large. In the event that a party is found to have infringed a patent, the court will order the infringer to immediately stop its infringing acts and will often award monetary damages to the patent owner to compensate for the infringing acts before and during the trial.
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