Claims – Most Important Part of the Patent
The claims section of a patent defines the metes and bounds of what the inventor is claiming as their invention. As such, the claims section is an important part of the patent. The claims are located at the back of the patent document and usually begins with “What is claimed is:”, “We claim:” or “I [...]
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- Posted in: Infringement, design around
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Can I Copy My Competitor’s Product? (Design Patent)
Companies may base their existing and future product lines on new products produced by their competitors. However, businesses must be careful not to infringe upon rights of others when doing so. For example, your competitor may have rights in the utilitarian features (e.g., runs faster, stays cooler, etc.) through a utility patent or the ornamental [...]
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Cease and desist letters
Once a patent issues, the patentee has a right to demand that others infringing on the claimed invention stop using, selling, offering for sale, manufacturing and importing the claimed invention into the United States. While not required, one of the first steps involved in exercising the patentee’s rights may involve sending a cease and desist [...]
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Contributory Infringement Viewed at Component Level
In Ricoh Company, Ltd. v. Quanta Computer, Inc., 2007-1567, (Fed. Cir. 2008), Quanta sold computer drives having various components. For the purposes of this case, one of those components was specially designed to infringe Ricoh’s patent. Although the computer drive itself did not directly infringe the Ricoh patent, Ricoh contends that Quanta should be held [...]
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