In other words, the terms of the claims inform the public of what is not allowed without the permission of the patent holder.
A clearance search may also include expired art that acts as a 'safe harbor' permitting the product or process to be used based on patents in the public domain.
Clearance searches may also be performed on a regular basis (e.g., monthly) if an individual is concerned about patenting activity in a particular industry or with respect to a particular product.
The average cost of a validity opinion (according to one 2007 survey) is over $15,000, with an infringement analysis adding $13,000.
[11] The cost of these opinions for U.S. patents can run from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) depending upon the particular patent, the number of defenses and prior art references, the length of the prosecution file history, and the complexity of the technology in question.
In June 2006, a Study for the European Commission on the feasibility of possible insurance schemes against patent litigation risks was published.
Every patent granted under this Act shall contain the title or name of the invention, with a reference to the specification, and shall, subject to this Act, grant to the patentee and the patentee's legal representatives for the term of the patent, from the granting of the patent, the exclusive right, privilege and liberty of making, constructing, using the invention and selling it to others to be used, subject to adjudication in respect thereof before any court of competent jurisdiction.
The UPC is furthermore competent for hearing cases regarding infringement of unitary patents, alongside the EEA courts of non-UPC countries (eg Spain, Norway) if the defendant has his residence/place of business there.
Patent infringement cases are decided exclusively by Federal, rather than by State, courts.
[26] In the US there are safe harbor provisions to use a patented invention for the purposes of gathering data for a regulatory submission.
Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, for example, complained in a letter to friend in 1848[28] I have been so constantly under the necessity of watching the movements of the most unprincipled set of pirates I have ever known, that all my time has been occupied in defense, in putting evidence into something like legal shape that I am the inventor of the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph!!
[citation needed] "A threat to bring a patent infringement action is highly likely to influence the commercial conduct of the person threatened, which is why the law of some countries, including the UK, provides that the making of a groundless threat to sue is, within certain carefully prescribed limits, an actionable wrong in itself.