Examples of Our Work [Intellectual Property]

How much is a patent worth?

What factors are essential to product sales? Does one patented feature of a medical device drive its sales, or do other patented features also contribute? Are the reliability of the device and the provider’s ability to service it quickly just as essential to product sales as the patented feature?

Engagement
In this “bet the company” litigation, the counsel for a large company that manufactures and distributes medical products and devices worldwide hired Gleason to analyze a patent infringement damage claim. The client was accused of infringing on a patent held by its primary competitor, a vertically integrated multinational corporation that sells a similar medical product as part of a product suite.

Gleason’s Role
Gleason was hired to analyze the financial damages claimed by the plaintiff, including lost profits and reasonable royalties. Because the patented feature in question in the litigation was only one of many factors contributing to the product’s marketability and effectiveness, one of the key issues in the case was the demand for the patented feature and the availability of potential non-infringing substitutes. By analyzing financial information from the plaintiff and its related companies, we also estimated the plaintiff’s costs to manufacture, market, distribute and service the similar product, which proved to be significantly greater than the costs alleged by the plaintiff.

Result
Counsel is prepared to discredit the plaintiff’s damage claim by introducing evidence of many relevant factors besides the patented feature that contribute to the defendant’s ability to sell the product, such as price, reliability and customer service.

Understanding the relationship between the sales price of the product and what it costs to bring it to market will enable counsel to argue for reasonable damages should the plaintiff prevail in court.