Specialist IP Lawyers - How They Can Protect Your Patents
If you choose to be IP savvy and patent those important industrial processes and components, you gain the legal right to sue other individuals or businesses who then use these without your permission. The infringement must be done in the course of running a business. This is because the EPO (European Patents Office) provides a service by which, businesses can search through all the registered patents to ensure that the industrial process or component they wish to use is not owned by another.
As mentioned above if someone uses the patented object without your permission, you have the right to 'defend your patent'. The following are steps you can take in order to do this:
Step 1 - Sending a letter
It is always best commercial practice to inform the individual or corporation by letter that they are currently using your patented object without permission. The letter should request politely that they stop doing so immediately.
If you are not dealing with a business contact or customer, it can be beneficial to have this letter come from Intellectual Property or IP Lawyers. Although you are not threatening legal action a letter from your lawyers shows that you have the facility to do so.
Step 2 - Seek an Opinion
If the other side return your letter with a counter-claim i.e. they believe that you have not patented the object, or the object is in fact patented by them, an opinion on the dispute can be sought from the Intellectual Property Office. This opinion is independent and although does not carry legal ground, is a very good indication to who is right in the dispute. The service normally costs around