Willful infringement is a patent law concept that applies when someone infringes a patent knowingly or with reckless disregard for the patent holder’s rights. It goes beyond accidental infringement, often involving a deliberate choice to use protected work despite awareness of the rights holder. With unintentional infringement, the infringer can still be required to pay damages, negotiate a license, or face an injunction to halt the infringing activities. If the infringement is deemed willful, however, this can lead to significantly increased damages, sometimes up to three times the original amount.

This is something that patent holders need to be keenly aware of – both offensively and defensively. If found for infringement, is simply knowing about the competitor’s patent enough? What if it turned up in search results when examining prior art for your own invention? On the other side, if you’ve discovered that a competitor is infringing on you, what steps should you take to ensure that they’ve been clearly put on notice? The answers to these questions could mean millions.

** Guest Host **

Tamany Vinson Bentz is our guest co-host today. Tamany is the founder of California IP Law, where she currently focuses on developing customized IP portfolios for businesses of all sizes. Prior to managing her own firm, she spent 20 years as a litigator in big law as a partner at both Venable and DLA Piper.

** Episode Overview **

Tamany and Dave lead today's discussion with our all-star patent panel, delving deeply into all things willful infringement. Along the way, they discuss:

⦿ Willful infringement prior to two 2016 SCOTUS cases.
⦿ How the SCOTUS cases shaped assessment of willful infringement.
⦿ How this has been playing out in more recent cases, and what has and has not been viewed as willful or egregious.
⦿ And some practical tips on how and where to communicate notices if you feel like your patent rights are being infringed.

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Patent abandonment is the premature relinquishment of patent rights for an invention. Abandonment can happen voluntarily for various strategic and cost reasons, but can also happen silently and unintentionally. It can happen before the right is even granted in the case of public disclosure. But it can also happen after the patent has been granted at many key points in its otherwise useful life and window of exclusivity. Like with other property rights, securing your patent isn’t the end of the line in maintaining that property right. Like property taxes for land and annual registration for automobiles, patents have deadlines and fees that, if not properly managed, can lead to loss of that right. And in all cases – whether abandoned intentionally or by accident - the invention becomes part of the public domain, and the rights holder's exclusivity window to prevent others from using, making, and selling the invention is terminated short of the otherwise expected 20–year term.

** Episode Overview **

Fortunately, with careful management, the problem can be avoided entirely. And for many unintentional cases, if caught quickly enough, there are remedies for reviving your rights. To help unpack all of this and conquer your fears of abandonment, Albert Du, Patent Strategist and Chief Mindfulness Counselor at Aurora, leads today's discussion with our all-star patent panel, delving deeply into all things patent abandonment and revival. Along the way, Al and the panel:

⦿ Provide a general overview of the utility patent lifecycle to help better frame key points at which abandonment can occur
⦿ Discuss the types of abandonment and the statutes governing each
⦿ Break down when and how to revive an abandoned patent
⦿ And as always, offer countless practical pointers to keep in mind before, during, and after patent prosecution to help avoid what can at best be a costly legal process – and at worst, a complete loss of patent rights.

** Related Past Episodes **

⦿ Public disclosure and the on-sale bar
⦿ International patents
⦿ Software patents
⦿ Patent Prosecution Highway
⦿ Continuation practice

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What are your options for protecting inventions across Europe? In this month’s episode, we’re taking a journey across the pond with a discussion on European Patent Practice. This episode is part two of a series we’re doing on International Patenting and follows Ashley’s exceptional Travel Guide to Foreign Protection from earlier this season.

Even in a globalized economy, patents are still nationalized documents. For example, a U.S. patent only grants the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing the claimed invention within the United States. It has no bearing on activities in Europe, Canada, Mexico, China, or anywhere else in the world. To restrict activities there, you will typically need a patent granted in each relevant country. This can boil down to filing and prosecution on a per-country basis. However, those seeking protection in Europe do have some additional options for a single application granting protection in multiple nations.

** Guest Host: Dr. Will Doherty **

To help navigate the very complicated European landscape, we reached out to a good friend of Aurora’s—Dr. Will Doherty of Albright IP. And we’re so glad we did. In this episode, Will puts on an absolute masterclass on European patent practice.

Beyond being a great teacher with a sharp sense of classic British humor, Will is an experienced Chartered British Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney, and IP Litigator. As a Patents Director at Albright, he prepares, files, and prosecutes patents with great success in a wide range of technical sectors globally, in addition to handling patent infringement matters. Will is a member of and regulated by IPReg, the independent professional regulatory body in the UK for Patent and Trademark Attorneys. He is also a long-standing member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys in the UK and the European Patent Institute. Will’s academic background is in Chemistry, with a doctorate in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry.

** Episode Overview **

⦿ European patent process, EPO participating countries, key players in the system, and how it all compares to USPTO and PCT processes.
⦿ Strategic considerations around filing in individual countries vs. using EPO, translation implications, cost considerations, fee timelines, filing timeline implications, market alignment, and rights enforcement.
⦿ Interplay with newer Unitary Patents and the Unitary Patent Court.
⦿ Key practitioner takeaways, including some insightful claim drafting tips for medical-type applications, which are viewed very differently in Europe than in the U.S.

** Mossoff Minute: Price Controls on Standardized Technologies **

In this month's Mossoff Minute, Professor Adam Mossoff is discussing an issue that could cause huge problems in Europe and for the global innovation economy, more broadly.

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