Q: Hi I have a patent when i sold my business part of the deal was my patent been over 20 years.Someone has been infringing
My patent is now abandoned. Can I go after them .There has been several billion of them sold in the last 20 years. I think I have a very good case If I am able to go after them. It would only take 15 min to see if there is a case .I have all the information I need
A:
I no longer work on patent litigation so I am not your solution. But I like to help where I can.
A patent that expired last week might have some value as you can sue folks for infringing the patent for up to six years earlier than the date of the law suit.
So even a patent that has been expired for a year or two may have some value if there was extensive use in the final years that the patent was alive. But each day the patent is expired, the value will go down if there was infringing activity for many years.
See https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/286
If you found this answer helpful, you may want to look at my answers to other questions about patent law are available at the bottom of my profile page at
https://lawyers.justia.com/lawyer/kevin-e-flynn-880338
Kevin E Flynn
Sean Erin Serraguard agrees with this answer
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