Patent Infringement Lawyer Bakersfield, CA

Types of Infringement

Whether you are being accused of infringing upon another’s intellectual property rights or you have concerns that your own rights are being infringed upon, it is important to understand the ins and outs of what patent infringement actually consists of. By relaying the details of your circumstances to an experienced patent infringement lawyer Bakersfield, CA inventors and innovative businesses trust, you will gain a clearer understanding of whether your circumstances amount to actionable infringement. No two infringement cases ever unfold in exactly the same way, so try to avoid making assumptions about your circumstances (for better or worse) until the knowledgeable team at Sierra IP Law, PC has had the opportunity to assess them objectively and thoroughly.

When an inventor or innovative business is in the creative stages of inventing a new product, design, or plant species, it can be difficult to allege that one’s intellectual property rights have been infringed upon—simply because no fully realized invention yet exists. A product, design, or plant species can only be formally protected via patent once the product can be successfully manufactured and reproduced. With that said, it isn’t impossible to prove that one’s rights have been infringed upon—say, if someone stole the blueprints for your invention—it is just much more difficult to prove infringement at this stage of the process than it is once an inventive vision is fully realized.

Once a product is able to be manufactured and reproduced, it is possible to successfully allege infringement—even if the invention isn’t patented. But, again, it is much more difficult to prove these allegations if the inventor has not formally protected their rights via patent. Most of the time, infringement consists of use and/or profiting from an invention to which one does not possess intellectual property rights. However, there are other kinds of infringement that our firm’s Bakersfield, CA patent infringement lawyer team can explain in detail if the details of your case do not “fit” into these common scenarios.

Cases that are particularly tricky are those in which an inventor has not formally protected their creation and another has taken steps to do so. Some of these cases are unintentional instances of infringement, while others are malicious. If you have ever heard the term “patent trolls,” this is where that term comes to life. Patent trolls may protect the rights to certain ideas and then wait for others to use them (in what they believe to be legitimate fashion) before suing them for infringement. Other times, an inventor may legitimately patent an idea, having no clue that someone before them came up with the same idea and just didn’t formalize their rights.

This area of the law is undeniably complex. Therefore, it is critically important that—regardless of the exact nature of your circumstances, you connect with the experienced California legal team at Sierra IP Law, PC as soon as you can if you either have been accused of infringement or others may be trampling on your rights. Our firm’s Bakersfield, CA patent infringement lawyer can provide you with the guidance you need to make informed decisions moving forward.

Taking Steps to Guard Against Infringement

The first official step in the stage of patenting something is to document the concept. Oftentimes, it is after a provisional patent is filed that a company will publicly announce the status of their invention, as patent-pending, to keep their competitors informed.

It is only after the patent has been fully released by the USPTO that it becomes fully enforceable under the United States patenting law. You will have to renew this patent eventually, and depending on the patent that could be anywhere from 14 to 20 years.

When you are filing for patent infringement you must prove the invention was used without your permission. Therefore you will need to start by using the patent file as her primary resource in this lawsuit. When you are filing this claim you're stating to the United States government that somebody has infringed upon your patent and your right to that patent.