Damages Assessment

If you find yourself in an IP infringement lawsuit, one of the most important things to know is the value of the intellectual property at risk. If you are the patent holder whose patent is infringed, you will want to know what is the economic harm being caused by the infringer so you can factor that information into your decision about what legal remedies to pursue. And, if you are the accused infringer, you want to know what is your potential litigation exposure.

At Altera Law Group, we have significant experience in the calculation of IP infringement damages. We have established an extensive network of testifying economists and accountants who have the right credentials to have their analyses stand up to the toughest of courtroom scrutiny. In the post-Daubert world where courts put increasing emphasis on experts’ credentials to testify, finding the right damages expert is a critically important step to successfully asserting or defending an IP infringement claim.

At Altera Law Group, we approach our practice differently than do many attorneys, to help ensure that we deliver maximum value to our clients. In our IP infringement practice, we focus early and often on the critical question of potential infringement damages. From this, we establish a case perspective that is driven by the economics of the situation, rather than by other factors. For example, a patent holder may have a very solid patent that, for one reason or another, does not have the ability to return significant dollars in infringement damages. In our view, the holder of such a patent needs to know this critical piece of information before investing significant dollars (predicted by a national survey of patent attorneys to be $2 million per party) in a patent infringement action. Alternatively, an accused infringer may have made significant potentially infringing sales, but perhaps the patent holder failed to mark its product and the accused infringer had no other notice of the patent rights. In this case, the accused infringer likely can minimize the impact of any damages award, even if liability for infringement is found.

With respect to our IP infringement damages practice, we are available to provide a variety of services that range from co-counseling with your existing patent lawyers to develop the damages issues for trial to consulting with your team on damages to ensure that the damages theories being developed are consistent with case law precedent and sound economic theory.