Thread: Being sued for 1/4 million in patent case!

HI all
i am not sure if I have come to the right place for advice on this, or even if am posting in the correct part of the site.
I apoligise if I have erred.

Five years ago, out of the blue, I received mail stating I was being sued for 1/4 million pounds for a patent infringement.
First of all, I thought it was a joke - but it wasnt - and still isnt.

I will try and keep this as simple as possible.
I started manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing an item in 1998, and had already found out that it could not be patented.
Things were going well until the dreaded letter.
Someone reckoned they had a patent for this item. His date of application for the patent was June 1999.
I have photographic evidence showing clearing that I was selling the item prior to that - the photographs have dates on them.

I have spent thousands defending myself. I also found out that they guy that is suing me is getting legal aid somehow!!!.
Once my funds had run out, my solicitor pointed this out to the judge, and he promptly granted me legal aid too - but this was little consolation as I had become almost bankrupt, and the business had died.
I now have a patent lawyer defending me on a pro-bono basis.

The guy that is sueing me has ''sacked'' two lawyers. They both told him that he cannot win as the photographs and dates have been verified by a professional photographic company. He still maintains they are fake.
He has also complained to the law society about his lawyers.

I have found out he has nothing and is unemployed, and I am unlikely to get any of my fees back.
The case has now been hanging over my head for 5 years - and is really getting me down.
I cannot afford to put it back into court myself for two reasons. A - it would be money spent, without a chance of getting it back, and B - I simply havent got the money to do it.

The guy appears now to just want to leave the case in court and let me stew.
He has also been spamming several USA based outlets where I supply the items too, and giving them a hard time.

Is there any way I get this finished without additional expense?

Any advice or help appreciated.

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This is surprising since he should have first supplied you with a copy of his patent and issued you a warning that you were infringing his intellectual property. You also state that you had advice that it could not be patented; from whom did you recieve this advice?

Are you able to provide details of the pre-court disclosure information? I assume this is an EU patent so the inventive date is that on which the patent is filed with the EU patent office as opposed to the US which is the inventive date which can be verified through lab notes etc..

Litigation involving intellectual property infringement is very expensive since there is often a lot of expenditure on patent agents and expert witnesses etc, I have worked in this area for a few years and would be interested to know what procedure was followed and on what basis they came to the loss of the sum you state.

It is strange that this ever got to court or indeed near to litigation if it was clear that there was prior art as you state. Usually a good patent agent will uncover this during the pre-disclosure phase and that is usually the end of it.


I have been involved in patent disputes and it is not worth litigation unless the potential loss is over a million (given the costs), can you clarify the nature of the product and the process and detail from when you first marketed the product and had advice that it could not be patented (I assume this was on the basis that there was prior art which could be a patent or public disclosure of the product/process)?

Monty

Originally Posted by bigmac1955

HI all
i am not sure if I have come to the right place for advice on this, or even if am posting in the correct part of the site.
I apoligise if I have erred.

Five years ago, out of the blue, I received mail stating I was being sued for 1/4 million pounds for a patent infringement.
First of all, I thought it was a joke - but it wasnt - and still isnt.

I will try and keep this as simple as possible.
I started manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing an item in 1998, and had already found out that it could not be patented.
Things were going well until the dreaded letter.
Someone reckoned they had a patent for this item. His date of application for the patent was June 1999.
I have photographic evidence showing clearing that I was selling the item prior to that - the photographs have dates on them.

I have spent thousands defending myself. I also found out that they guy that is suing me is getting legal aid somehow!!!.
Once my funds had run out, my solicitor pointed this out to the judge, and he promptly granted me legal aid too - but this was little consolation as I had become almost bankrupt, and the business had died.
I now have a patent lawyer defending me on a pro-bono basis.

The guy that is sueing me has ''sacked'' two lawyers. They both told him that he cannot win as the photographs and dates have been verified by a professional photographic company. He still maintains they are fake.
He has also complained to the law society about his lawyers.

I have found out he has nothing and is unemployed, and I am unlikely to get any of my fees back.
The case has now been hanging over my head for 5 years - and is really getting me down.
I cannot afford to put it back into court myself for two reasons. A - it would be money spent, without a chance of getting it back, and B - I simply havent got the money to do it.

The guy appears now to just want to leave the case in court and let me stew.
He has also been spamming several USA based outlets where I supply the items too, and giving them a hard time.

Is there any way I get this finished without additional expense?

Any advice or help appreciated.