Patent Litigation
Types of Patents
The United States Patent and Trademark Office issues three types of patents: utility patents, design patents, and plant patents. Each protects a different aspect of an invention or discovery. A product may qualify for more than one type of patent protection.
Utility Patents
A utility patent protects a new and useful invention or improvement, such as a process, machine, manufactured product, or composition of matter. Its protection is defined by the patent’s claims, which describe the boundaries of the invention. Utility patents generally last up to 20 years from the applicable filing date, subject to maintenance fees and any applicable adjustments or extensions.
Design Patents
A design patent protects the ornamental appearance of an article of manufacture, rather than the way it functions. The protected design may involve the article’s shape, surface decoration, or both. A product may have both utility and design patent protection when it has a patentable function and a separately patentable appearance. U.S. design patents generally last 15 years from the date they are granted.
Plant Patents
A plant patent protects a distinct and new plant variety that has been asexually reproduced, such as through cuttings or grafting, if it meets the legal requirements for patent protection. Plant patents generally last 20 years from the applicable filing date.
Patent Litigation
Patent litigation may arise when a patent owner believes another party is using a patented invention without authorization, or when a business is accused of infringing a patent. During a patent’s term, unauthorized acts such as making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing a patented invention in the United States may constitute infringement. The analysis depends on the type of patent and the scope of its protection.
Utility Patent Infringement
A utility patent infringement analysis compares the accused product or process with the patent’s claims. Literal infringement may occur when the accused product or process meets every limitation of at least one patent claim. In some circumstances, infringement may also be established under the doctrine of equivalents, even if a claim limitation is not literally present.
Design Patent Infringement
Design patent infringement focuses on the overall visual appearance of the patented design and the accused design. Under the ordinary observer test, the question is whether an ordinary observer, familiar with the relevant prior designs, would view the two designs as substantially the same. The analysis considers the design as a whole, rather than isolated similarities.
Plant Patent Infringement
A plant patent gives its owner the right to exclude others from asexually reproducing the patented plant. It also extends to certain uses, offers for sale, sales, and imports of the plant so reproduced or its parts. A plant patent dispute may therefore require evidence about how the accused plants were propagated and whether they were derived from the protected plant.
Torani Law P.C. represents clients in patent disputes involving the enforcement and defense of utility, design, and plant patents. We evaluate the patent’s scope and validity, the accused product or process, potential defenses, and available remedies to develop a litigation strategy suited to the client’s objectives.