Strategic Considerations for Enforcing Patents in International Disputes

2009 Thomson Reuters/Aspatore

Introduction

When U.S. companies find themselves in patent disputes with foreign competitors, they need to make sure they take advantage of the changes in the playing field on peril of being taken advantage of themselves.  Merely relying on experience with the U.S. patent enforcement system is not sufficient for success in patent disputes with international components. For example, knowing how to find, compel, and cross-examine an English-speaking witness in Atlanta or San Jose is not sufficient for getting the case-winning admissions from an executive in Tokyo or an engineer in Stuttgart. And knowing how to prepare a U.S. witness for a deposition is not sufficient for helping a foreign witness, who may have no experience with the adversarial U.S. court system and the critical role of the jury in U.S. litigation.