How to Calculate Past Patent Damages
Patents protect your products and ideas from intellectual property theft. When patent infringement occurs, you are entitled to past patent damage compensation. If a court or jury determines that patent infringement has occurred against you or your company, the court then calculates past patent damages. The total amount depends solely upon the facts of each individual situation. The same factors are taken into account for every case to ensure you that receive compensation for losses due to the infringement.
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Things You'll Need
- Average sales (monthly or yearly)
- Length of the infringement
- Agreed-upon royalties
- Original patent details
Instructions
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1
Calculate all lost profits due to the patent infringement. Use average sales on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis for products, excluding taxes.
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2
Calculate the benefits the infringer made from the product or idea. This includes profits and extra business due to the patent infringement.
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3
Determine any other patent damages, such as loss of business, not being credited for an invention, and damage to reputation due to faulty products from the infringer.
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4
Calculate any royalties, which are usually stated in the original patent or may be determined by the court, for the patent infringement. This is the amount someone would have originally paid to legally copy your product or idea.
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Tips & Warnings
In some cases, attorney costs and court fees may also be awarded.
Exact calculations vary based on patent details, sales reports and sale predictions.
Taxes are not awarded in most cases. Some courts may include taxes based on the current tax rate, but most do not, since taxes are seen as money the patentee would have paid anyway on their own income.
