David slays Goliath - in the US courts

i4i, sued Microsoft in 2007, alleging it’s patent US5,787,449 monopolised aspects of markup-language technology used in Microsoft's Word application. Microsoft claimed a judge in a lower court used the wrong standard of proof for invalidating a US patent. Microsoft had argued that the clear and convincing standard used was too high and should be replaced by a lower standard. They effectively wanted to make it easier to defend against patents. However, the Supreme Court have confirmed that the "clear and convincing" standard was the correct one. What does this mean? Although this does not change the law, it confirms the high value of US patents. Not only does a single patent cover a country of 300 million people with a total GDP $14 trillion but, once issued, it can be hard to invalidate. These factors in combination with the prospect of obtaining triple damages for willful infringement and the availability of no-win no-fee litigation make, the US a very attractive jurisdiction for patent filing. Please contact Paul Higgin for more details [email protected]

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