Benefiting From Patent Litigation Contingency Fee Agreements

By Tammie Caldwell


Patent owners could win their infringement on their patent lawsuit if they proved an offender has used their patented idea or technology without their permission. An offender would proceed to demonstrate the patent was either unenforceable, no infringement has occurred or is invalid. The fees attorneys charge for representing aggrieved parties in this kind of cases are quite high. A party may reduce such fees considerably by going for a patent litigation contingency fee kind of arrangement.

A patent is a publicly recognized and restricted right to make use of a certain invention. Infringement takes place when another party other than the patented inventions owner sells makes or uses it. The lawsuit filed because of patent infringement disputes is termed as patent litigation.

Taking advantage of contingent fee arrangements reduces out of pocket costs. In such an arrangement, the attorney deducts their fees from a settlement amount. Certain expenses, however, require out of pocket payment such as expert witness hiring, travel, transcripts, filing fees and conduction of depositions.

This kind of arrangement enables aggrieved inventors to pursue their intellectual property breach lawsuit that they could not have otherwise afforded. The inventor also gets to minimize risks of losing the litigation for they pay their lawyers not for the period worked but for results. In this kind of agreement, the lawyer is highly motivated to settle the case should it be in the best interest of their client.

During the litigation process, the defendant and their attorney could settle the case by offering a settlement amount lower than that sought by the plaintiff. Weakness of the suit appearing may make an attorney advice their client to settle. Conversely, if a defense lawyer is sure of winning, they can advise a client to wait out the full trial because their settlement amount would be bigger.

Upon accepting to litigate your lawsuit via contingent basis of fee charging, your intellectual property infringement law firm will aspire for optimum performance. Your case will be very cost effective while taking a very short time. This is the opposite for law firms whose retainer pays for hours worked. Such practices conduct long and numerous depositions. Their practice rests upon long proceedings as they send several attorneys to conferences and hearings. These activities augment billing hours paid for by a client. Such practices are rare should your attorney charge you based on contingency fee agreements.

During initial consultations, lawyers specializing in infringement on intellectual property evaluate the merits of a case carefully. They try to find out how big the settlement would be. If a case is weak, lacks credibility or has a number of issues, such lawyers often decline to take up the case. When a lawyer takes up such a case, it is because they have confidence of wining once they have invested in adequate effort.

A client assisting their lawyer as much as possible is the best way of winning a case. It is prudent that a client provides their lawyer with any information requested and fast. A good relationship with an attorney as they file the intellectual property lawsuit is crucial since chances of winning are higher and both stand to benefit immensely on winning.




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