Patent Law

International Feel

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Taking a wide-angle lens to patent enforcement, International Patent Litigation is a knowing compendium of litigation practices around the world, including numerous European countries, Japan, and the United States. Alas, China is not covered. Editor David Wilson opens the book on "developing a strategy and managing international patent litigation." From there and onwards, a wealth of information.

Wilson:

[D]ifferent countries approach patent litigation differently, both from a procedural point of view and substantively. As a result, not only are the procedures by which patent disputes are resolved different, but different remedies can be available and the length of time to obtain resolution can vary widely. Moreover, anyone who has been involved in major patent litigation will know that it is not a task to be undertaken lightly.

And so the very premise of the book is rather daunting: a comparative survey of the pros and cons in picking national jurisdictions. Only large corporations could consider this book a hands-on guide to the varieties of jurisprudence and practical hurdles of patent enforcement.

For the rest of us, with nothing but an interest in the nuts-and-bolts of patent litigation around the world, if for no other reason than to better understand the relative merits of different approaches, the book is merely indispensible. The chapter on the United States, for example, is an excellent practical primer, well covering the essential aspects, and so informative to anyone short of encyclopedic knowledge.

Though consistently well written, there is nothing casual about this book. It's not a rip-roaring read, like The Invisible Edge. But if the title intrigues, the contents reward.

Available from Amazon.com.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on April 09, 2009 (boomark / email).