Employer being sued for patent infringement

[Heath1987]

If the company I work for is being sued for a very large sum of money, how long do I have and what should I do? They are being sued for several patent infringements. Thank you.

 

[quincy]

If the company I work for is being sued for a very large sum of money, how long do I have and what should I do? They are being sued for several patent infringements. Thank you.

What is the name of your state and what do you mean by how long do you have? How long for what?

Edit to add:

Following is some general information on patent infringement, while Heath waits to tell us what the name of his state is and what he means by "how long."

A patent infringement action needs to be filed within 6 years from the date of infringement. If a judge finds infringement, there can be an injunction issued to prevent further infringement and/or there can be an award of damages (profits/losses), or there can be three times the damages awarded, plus attorney fees, if the infringement is found to be willful.

 

[Heath1987]

Response

Sorry, it was late at night and I was very upset and didnt make a very clear post 😢

I am worried about the company collapsing because of this law suit.It's a smallish company(200 employees) and I'm wondering how long these types of law suits take and if I should leave. Do you think it's a risk to stay employed here? The law suit is for 35 million dollars.

Hopefully that was more helpful. Thank you so much!

 

[FlyingRon]

It could take a very long time. It could be that they settle for less (perhaps a licensing fee), it could be that they are found not to be infringing,etc... Don't panic... I'm sure you'll have a bit of notice if they actually are headed to court and likely to be found infringing.

 

[quincy]

Sorry, it was late at night and I was very upset and didnt make a very clear post 

I am worried about the company collapsing because of this law suit.It's a smallish company(200 employees) and I'm wondering how long these types of law suits take and if I should leave. Do you think it's a risk to stay employed here? The law suit is for 35 million dollars.

Hopefully that was more helpful. Thank you so much!

What is the name of your state, Heath?

Patent infringement suits are rarely heard by a jury so this can cut the amount of time a case takes. What happens in the suit is that the patents will be compared, element by element, to determine if the device or the process infringes. If there are several patents that are being examined, this of course adds additional time to the suit.

Because there can be harm with a delay in the proceedings for a company accused of infringement, if the device/process being charged as infringed is an integral part of the company's operation, the courts can move faster than they might otherwise, where less harm is likely to come to the defendants with a prolonged court action.

Now, if YOU are part of the legal action taken against the company (i.e., you are named as a defendant), even if you were to leave the company now, you would still have to answer for any infringement. If you are NOT a named defendant, there should still be a good indication of how the suit is going to turn out and if the company will survive (i.e., if it can lose 35+ million and still operate).

 

[Zigner]

Another thing to keep in mind is that it is possible that the company has insurance to cover this type of thing.

 

[quincy]

Another thing to keep in mind is that it is possible that the company has insurance to cover this type of thing.

I suppose.

The best that can probably happen to the small company is that the patent owner(s) decide not to proceed with the suit for fear that the court will find their own patent failed to be non-obvious or novel when issued or there was not full disclosure made at the time of application or there were other possible faults with the original invention or its application.

The small company, if represented properly, will attack the validity of the patent(s) that are said to have been infringed. This can either work to defeat the claim - or result in a costlier legal action (depending ...).

 

[Heath1987]

Reply

Thank you all so much for the responses! I'm just nervous and wondering if I need to be looking for another job. So y'all are staying not to worry and that these things take a while? I have a family to support and its nerve wracking.

 

[Heath1987]

Reply

I live in Texas but the company is based out of California and Nevada

 

[quincy]

Thank you all so much for the responses! I'm just nervous and wondering if I need to be looking for another job. So y'all are staying not to worry and that these things take a while? I have a family to support and its nerve wracking.

We all are saying that there is no way for us to know how long the patent action will take. If you have a family to support and you are worried about losing your job, you can certainly start looking for another job. It wouldn't hurt to have another job in mind if your current company folds.

Thank you for providing state names.