Controlling Your Patent Litigation Costs
By Henry Stimpson
How many lawyers does it take to handle a patent case? If it’s “too many,” you’ll pay too much.
Smart strategy and careful management can cut the burgeoning cost of patent litigation, says Michael Rader, a litigation shareholder at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C., a Boston intellectual property law firm.
“The cardinal rule is to keep the team lean,” Rader says. The core team should usually be two or three lawyers plus a paralegal – tops. None of them should work on the case full-time.
“Cases have an ebb and flow,” Rader says. “If you assign a lawyer to only one case, the work will expand to fill the hours available.”
Stay focused on the ultimate goal. Develop your themes early and update them regularly.
“Know how you plan to win,” he says. In a patent-litigation case, there’s a temptation to “turn over every stone”— and that drives up expenses with little return. “You need a strategy to determine which stones to turn over,” he says.
Use common sense when filing motions. If you file an unnecessary motion, you’ll either lose, or win but get no meaningful relief, he says. Abide by deadlines because time is money.
Avoid discovery disputes, he counsels. It’s fruitless because judges ultimately require cooperation and despise such disputes.
Develop a settlement strategy and whenever possible use court-mandated alternative dispute resolution procedures. That said, keep litigating to win. Being in a position to win also drives favorable settlements, he adds.
Clients can help
By working together on discovery and document collection, clients can lessen the burden on their law firm. Having a dedicated engineering contact at the client who can evaluate the technical merits of the case will also save money, Rader says.
“The client needs to have a single point person with responsibility and ownership for the progress of the case,” he adds.
Rader says he uses a spreadsheet to estimate budgets and check near-term expenses with quarterly budgets.
“It’s rewarding to win a case, and it’s equally rewarding do to it in a way that meets the client’s budget,” Rader says. “Given the economy, it’s challenging – and necessary.”
Editor’s note: This article appears in the June 2010 print edition
