Archive for January 11, 2012
IP Law Asia Summit 2012
Jan 11th
Making IP Infringement Demands Go Away
 | Chris Neumeyer, a speaker at the marcus evans IP Law Asia Summit 2012, on responding to IP infringement demands. Interview with: Chris Neumeyer, Director, Legal Department, Lite-On Technology Corporation |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Legal Counsel must be very careful when responding to claims that their company’s products are infringing patents, says Chris Neumeyer, Director, Legal Department, Lite-On Technology Corporation. If handled carefully, many intellectual property (IP) matters that appear serious can be resolved at no cost, he adds. A speaker at the upcoming marcus evans IP Law Asia Summit 2012, Neumeyer offers his expertise into responding to patent licensing claims and avoiding litigation.
How should Legal Counsel respond to claims that their company’s products infringe patents and that their use should be licensed?
Patent licensing demands can be extremely serious and lead to thousands or millions in attorney fees and licensing costs. The good news is that if handled well, such claims can often be resolved at no cost. First, counsel need to review the letter, and evaluate the patent owner, the patents and the products identified. Are there similar cases pending in litigation? Have other companies licensed the patents? As for the products, one must speak with the business units and engineers. What is the sales volume? Are the components purchased from suppliers? Are there possible design-around solutions?
Once these have been evaluated, counsel should send a polite but non-committal response to the sender of the demand, requesting various further information that is required. One should put the ball back into their court and wait. Such claims are often illegitimate and will simply go away when put to the test.
Should the response be different if it is a customer formally informing them of their alleged infringement of a third party’s patents?
There are some differences in how this should be handled. Counsel should first check if there is a signed agreement requiring indemnification and whether it includes any exceptions to such obligations. Often, there is no obligation to indemnify if the claim arises from the customer’s specifications. Is that the case here? Counsel should also determine whether the claim arises from components provided by suppliers, in which case they should be responsible.
What if there is no choice but to either license or litigate? How can Legal Counsel ensure the best possible outcome?
Demanding parties will often make threats and demands that sound very serious, but they may be bluffing. It is important not to give in too early. Determine the seriousness of the threat. Have they filed other lawsuits against others? How long have the discussions been going on for?
If it is clear that litigation is imminent, then counsel should seriously consider mediation or arbitration, as the costs may be much less. If one must litigate, it might make sense to sue the other party first for declaratory relief, to establish the forum of the lawsuit.
In any event, we recommend that counsel always try their best to settle. It is never too late for that.
Contact:
Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian
Press Manager
marcus evans, Summits Division
Tel: + 357 22 849 313
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com
About the IP Law Asia Summit 2012
Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on IP protection, strategies to maximise IP monetisation and IP outsourcing.
For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website at www.iplawasia-summit.com
marcus evans group – legal sector portal
The Legal Network – marcus evans Summits group delivers peer-to-peer information on strategic matters, professional trends and breakthrough innovations.
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Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.
About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-to-one business meetings. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com
All rights reserved. The above content may be republished or reproduced. Kindly inform us by sending an email to press@marcusevanscy.com
IP Law European Summit 2012
Jan 11th
How to Obtain a Winning IP Protection Strategy
 | Markku Simmelvuo from Papula-Nevinpat, a sponsor company at the marcus evans IP Law European Summit 2012, shares IP protection strategies. Interview with: Markku Simmelvuo, Managing Partner, Papula-Nevinpat |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cost should not always be top priority for Intellectual Property (IP) Counsel, says Markku Simmelvuo, Managing Partner, Papula-Nevinpat. “They should build long-standing relationships with their outside counsel to get best results,” he adds.
From a patent agency attending the upcoming marcus evans IP Law European Summit 2012 in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 23 – 24 April, Simmelvuo talks about IP protection and why relationships matter.
How can IP Counsel ensure that budget cuts do not negatively impact their company’s IP?
For best results, IP Counsel must work with good quality, efficient IP firms, who handle large volumes of work and are able to pass on some of their cost efficiencies. They should select patent agencies that provide a wide array of services, and consolidate their work into those selected offices even if they do not represent all the countries they operate in. That way, they will build a strong relationship with a party that truly understands their business.
What do IP Counsel overlook?
Cost should not always be top priority. IP Counsel can get the best efficiency from outside counsel if they concentrate on building a strong relationship with them. They overlook the size of the portfolio or the areas they want to protect their IP in, sometimes going too wide, while other times not wide enough. There must be a linkage between the area of protection and markets, what is reasonable and what is not. Counsel in large companies understand this, but it is often overlooked in small companies.
What lessons into IP protection could your give?
Quality comes from attitude and experience. It is very important to work with a counsel who wants to achieve the best possible protection for the clients’ IPs, patents and trademarks. They should never give up too easily.
IP Counsel must also work very closely with the business people who make the strategic decisions for the company. Only they will be able to guide them on which patents are worth protecting.
How could the value of IP assets be maximised?
It depends on the business. Pharmaceutical companies need to get patents for all that they have spent years researching on. In the fast moving and changing technology sector, where a patent application’s lifecycle is short, it is different.
There is huge value in having large patent portfolios. Even quite old portfolios are valuable at the moment. Having a working strategy for applying reasonable patent applications and trademarks would help maximise the value of IP assets.
Contact:
Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian
Press Manager
marcus evans, Summits Division
Tel: + 357 22 849 313
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com
About the IP Law European Summit 2012
This unique forum will take place at the Grand Hotel Huis Ter Duin, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 23 – 24 April 2012. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on managing, valuing and monetising the organisation’s intellectual property assets.
For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com or visit the event website at www.iplawsummiteurope.com
marcus evans group – legal sector portal
The Legal Network – marcus evans Summits group delivers peer-to-peer information on strategic matters, professional trends and breakthrough innovations.
| | | |
Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.
About Papula-Nevinpat
Papula-Nevinpat is a globally recognized patent, trade mark and design agency based in Finland with a strong foothold in the Eurasian territory.
We represent our clients directly in the Eurasian Patent Office, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus and thus are able to provide our clients a very cost-effective way of protecting their industrial property rights in these countries. In other parts of Eurasia, we represent our clients through our cooperation network.
Our experienced patent attorneys have thorough understanding of our clients’ technologies. Furthermore, we have specialized technical knowledge in IT, nanotechnology, bio- and pharmaceutical industries.
About marcus evans summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-to-one business meetings. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com
All rights reserved. The above content may be republished or reproduced – kindly inform us by sending an email to press@marcusevanscy.com