Patent Enforcement
A patent is only valuable if its owner can enforce it. This chapter explains the patent owner’s right to exclude others from using the invention, why the Patent Office issues patents but does not enforce them, and how a patentee pursues an infringement claim through a civil case in the federal courts.
The Right to Enforce a Patent
Patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office are enforced by their owners, not by the office itself. The Patent Office is responsible only for examining and granting patents; it takes no part in stopping infringement. The patent owner, called the patentee, has the statutory right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the patented invention throughout the United States, and it falls to the patentee to defend that right.
Right to Exclude, Not to Practise
A patent grants the right to exclude others, but it does not grant the owner a positive right to practise the invention. It is possible to hold a patent on an improvement to an existing patented product and still be unable to make that improvement without infringing the earlier patent. Understanding this distinction is central to patent enforcement, because owning a patent settles who may be excluded, not automatically who is free to use the technology.
Pursuing an Infringement Claim
To enforce a patent, the patentee files a civil case for patent infringement in a United States federal court. Patent litigation is a complex and often costly process in which the court determines whether the patent is valid and whether it has been infringed. If infringement is found, the court can award remedies such as damages and orders to stop the infringing activity, allowing the patent right to be turned into commercial value.