It’s a common complaint — ok, so why should we bother obtaining that patent / trade mark / design / etc when we will not be able to enforce if a big entity decides to ignore it.

No, No, No, No and No

Ok — first, IP rights are assets, so you can use them in so many other ways apart from enforcing them. They add value — but more on that on (many) other days.

Back to enforcing your rights.

1 – Litigation funding is a growing trend — it was traditionally severely restricted due to the common law rules of Maintenance and Champerty. However, this is decreasingly a problem.

That means someone else will fund your litigation in return for a % stake in your damages award. Like a patent troll, but they don’t own the IP.

Here are some other options:

2 — choose a country where it is cheap and get a strategic decision early — see the article on ‘Value for Money in Global Patent Litigation’ on my Articles page

3 — partner with a big guy;

4 — sell your rights to a patent troll;

5 — take offensive IP insurance (well before there is a problem);

6 — securatize your litigation;

7 — there are more