Patent Enforcement Worldwide, Essay Example

Patent litigation takes place at both the state and federal level. Ultimately, this depends upon who violates the patent and who is taking legal actions against them. If an individual from one state violates the patent of an individual living in the same state, the patent litigation will take place in their home state. However, if these individuals are from two different states this litigation will take place at the federal level because federal courts are responsible for resolving disputes between states. Therefore, a Florida judge may not hear a New Hampshire case because he is the expert in this particular situation.

When considering whether a litigation law case will go to federal or state court, it is important to determine whether the two or more state involved have similar patent laws. Although certain federal statutes govern all states, individual states have added their own policies onto this foundation. Therefore, it would be unfair to judge on the validity of a patent violation in either the defendant or plaintiffs home state; in this situation, law is only violated if federal laws were broken. State law is less important when two or more states are involved in a case.

While litigation law is somewhat straightforward for individual parties, this is less the case for corporations who own or break patents. Since corporations are seen as national entities, these cases are typically heard by the federal court. When small businesses are involved, it is proper for the case to be handled by the state if all violations incurred within the state. Ultimately, each case is unique and must be heard by either the state or federal court. While a case could be handed to the federal court from the state, the reverse usually does not occur.

References

Heath, Christopher; Petit, Laurence (2005). Patent Enforcement Worldwide: A Survey of 15 Countries, Writings in Honour of Dieter Stauder. IIC Studies in Industrial Property and Copyright Law (Second ed.). Oxford: Hart Publishing.

Shaughnessy AM; Bernstein AE. (2005). Patent Litigation: Choosing Between The United States and Canada.The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, 13(2).