Every marriage is not meant to last forever. No matter what the reasoning behind the divorce, it is important to have legal representation for each side. I almost lost everything because my former spouse said that he was taking care of things and that he would be fair about how the assets were divided. It took several weeks for me to find out what he was up to. It was then that I hired my own attorney and got what I deserved. You should never attempt to go through a divorce without a lawyer working on your side. On my site, I have listed several of the issues that can get overlooked if you are inexperienced with divorce documents and proceedings.
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what to be aware of when divorcing your spouse
4 Issues To Consider Before Tackling Patent Litigation
Joy Johnson
Patent litigation is the ultimate enforcement option, but it's one that should only be undertaken with some forethought. It's important to protect your IP, and here are four things a patent lawyer will ask you to think about before starting litigation.
Defensibility
Having a patent does not necessarily mean it is defensible. The prevailing attitude of the patent office is to approve patents unless they have obvious failings. This means the real value of a patent often remains undiscovered until litigation starts.
Generally, a patent is defensible if it meets a certain set of criteria. First, what it proposes has to be novel. Second, it has to outline a specific product, process or function that has conceivable applications. Third, it should be broad enough in scope that infringers can't easily find routes around it.
This can be a tricky balance to strike. An overly broad patent may be invalidated because a competitor didn't use all of the 100 things you named. One that isn't broad enough, though, may not tick enough boxes to be defensible.
Exhaustion of Options
Courts typically don't want to spend lots of time litigating things that could be resolved by the two parties. This means you usually have to demonstrate exhaustion. For example, going straight to the court without sending a cease and desist letter or a demand notice is likely to have a case declared unripe. That means you'll have to spend more time exhausting options before the court will care to hear the case.
Similarly, there's an argument in many cases for settling the dispute. An infringing party might be asked to pay a penalty for the period of infringement and to then tack on licensing fees for continued use. This could prove significantly more profitable than spending money on years of patent litigation.
The Right Target
Like other forms of litigation, suing over a patent requires going after the right target. You should be sure the target of the suit is the infringer, something that gets tricky in this age of holding companies and trade networks. Research is worth a lot.
Tiny Technicalities
Before dropping the bomb on a competitor, you'll also want to make sure all the little details are in order. For example, many patent holders end up seeing their registrations expire early due to failure to pay the required maintenance fees. It's wise to verify that you still have a standing patent before asking a patent lawyer to go to war.
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