Saving Money in Patent Litigation: Series Overview

Patent litigation is expensive—often horrifically expensive—with attorneys’ fees quickly escalating to millions of dollars, even in relatively small cases.  In some cases, plaintiffs may claim patent infringement damages in the hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars.

It’s a high stakes game.  Patent litigation can break a company or conversely lead to phenomenal damages and market success when a competitor is stopped in its tracks.

And startup companies that have venture funding sometimes find themselves playing the game.  Sometimes an emerging startup may be sued for patent infringement when it’s about to launch a key product that threatens a giant company with a giant patent portfolio.  A nimble startup with a stunning new product can scare a giant into suing.

Sometimes a startup may have pioneering patents on cutting-edge, key technology and sue a giant and spur a licensing campaign.  A startup may take the risk and incur the expense in the hopes of winning big.  Even giants are scared of patents and patents can give a startup negotiating leverage.

Ultimately, playing the patent litigation game is expensive.  But there are ways to greatly reduce costs while actually increasing the odds of winning.

I’ve done patent litigation for over a decade.  I’ve spent many years at large law firms and I’ve litigated with and against some of the biggest law firms in the patent litigation industry.

I’ve seen a lot and I have an insider’s knowledge of how to cut costs—the knowledge that big law firms don’t want their clients to know.

It’s the elephant in the room that the client and  attorneys don’t usually discuss.  Except in rare contingency cases, the interests of the law firm in increasing billable hours and making money is directly at odds with a company’s interest in reducing its litigation bills.  The lawyers are generally not going to help the clients figure out how to pay the law firm less.

I’m going to spill the beans.

This is the start of a four part series, Saving Money in Patent Litigation, where I discuss ways to reduce costs during patent litigation, while actually increasing the odds of winning.

Posts will discuss:

• Hiring the Best Law Firm
• Hiring The Best Lead Litigation Attorney
• The Best Patent Litigation Team
• Case Management Strategies

I’m going to do something unusual.  I’m going to write from the prospective of a client while using the knowledge that I’ve gained as a patent litigation attorney.  I’m going to discuss what I would do if I were paying the lawyers to win a typical patent case.

My goal is to help companies pick the best attorneys for the job, ask the hard questions and demand the accountability from the lawyers that will reduce litigation bills without compromising the ability to win the case.

And to all of the IP attorneys who subscribe to this blog, I would love to hear your comments.  How can we really help our clients most effectively?