District courts have proven extremely reluctant to provide equitable remedies even after finding that patents have been infringed. Without the realistic possibility of an injunction, infringers are less likely to come to the table throughout the litigation lifecycle, and far more likely to take their chances on appeal while infringement continues.
But patent litigation in the United States is not limited to the district courts. At the International Trade Commission, injunctive relief for imported infringing products is not only possible, but achievable on a much faster schedule than in district courts. A favorable outcome at the ITC can result in infringing imports being excluded from the United States market entirely, enforced by
Customs. However, the ITC is a highly specialized venue, and its investigations not only involve additional issues that are foreign to traditional patent litigation in the district courts but also proceed on an extremely aggressive timeline that can prove difficult for both the unprepared patent owner and accused infringers.
At Devlin Law Firm, we specialize in Section 337 investigations before the ITC and in identifying the scenarios where an ITC investigation is the right choice for enforcement of your portfolio. Our attorneys have substantial experience in front of the Commission and understand how to navigate its unique procedures, address ITC-specific substantive issues, and utilize its accelerated timelines to achieve a favorable result whether that be a license on fair terms or exclusion of infringing products from importation and sale in the United States.
Our business model allows us to serve a wide range of client needs, from lone inventors to multi- million-dollar companies. We offer big firm experience and capabilities at a small, flexible,
entrepreneurial-firm cost. And while the Devlin Law Firm is happy to enter into a traditional hourly fee for service engagement with a competitive fee structure, our experience monetizing our clients’ intellectual property makes the Firm ideally suited to offer non-traditional billing arrangements, such as a hybrid fee structure blending a contingent success fee with discounted fixed-fee (or hourly) billings. In this way, the Firm has a vested interest in the success of the case, rather than just collecting its fees regardless of the end result.
