Re: Patent on Clock Calibration
Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:42 am
Can I point out that, unless you live in the US, you would probably find a patent lawyer willing to represent you for no fee (unless you lose) quite easily. Why? Because most legal system (By which I mean sane legal systems) have a loser pays all system - They would extract their fee from the other party. (There are exceptions to loser pays, but this will never be the case in a big company with illegitimate patent vs individual case).
This is one of the reasons why non-US countries have a much lower frivolous lawsuit incidence: Judges are liable to require the instituter of the lawsuit to pay the company they were suing's legal fees, which will be huge, since they entered into a lawsuit which they knew they had little chance of winning. If it was a legitimate law suit (The person instituting it actually had some form of a case), then a reprieve is likely to be granted if the loser is significantly smaller that the the winner (And would therefore be severely damaged by the legal fees). It's also why out-of-court settlements are so common.
Standard warning: IANAL!
This is one of the reasons why non-US countries have a much lower frivolous lawsuit incidence: Judges are liable to require the instituter of the lawsuit to pay the company they were suing's legal fees, which will be huge, since they entered into a lawsuit which they knew they had little chance of winning. If it was a legitimate law suit (The person instituting it actually had some form of a case), then a reprieve is likely to be granted if the loser is significantly smaller that the the winner (And would therefore be severely damaged by the legal fees). It's also why out-of-court settlements are so common.
Standard warning: IANAL!