JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #79 - March 2013 - 34

patents

Enhancing composites value through
patents: twenty-first century challenges

By
Richard Gilly
Patent partner
Akerman Senterfitt, LLP

uch «enhanced-value»
composites would
likely command higher
price points and thus contribute not only to building
the associated company, but
also to the advancement of
the industry as a whole.

The value of process
patents
Once developed, the commercial advantages of such
enhanced-value composites
may be maintained more
effectively by securing the
corresponding protection
under the patent laws of
those countries or regions associated with such enhanced
value.
The patent system in the
United States has been a
historical source of revenue
for companies in the composites industry. On average,
damage awards for patent
infringement in this country
are often higher than those

As price points for well-known composites and techniques
decrease in proportion to maturity and production volume,
composites innovators may wish to consider how to enhance
composites’ «value» – that is, improved materials, processing, targeted properties or more diverse applicability to
industry problems. Mr. Richard Gilly will be a speaker at JEC
Europe March 14, 1:30 pm, Agora, booth X18.

in other developed countries. For example, median
damages awarded in patent
infringement cases in the
chemical and synthetics field
were over five million dollars
annually from 1995 through
2011. In the United States, a
patent holder may seek damages for its lost profits or,
at a minimum, a reasonable
royalty that would likely have
been paid by the accused
infringer. The U.S. patent law
also provides for punitive
damages of up to three times
the actual damages in the
event the accused infringer is
found to have acted wilfully
in infringing the patent. For
those patent infringement
cases that go to trial, the patent holders in the chemical
field have generally prevailed
about 75% of the time during
this time period [1].
The size of a damage award
in the U.S. may relate to how
closely sales of the product are due to the patented
improvement, and the availability of non-infringing

34 jec composites magazine / No79 March 2013

alternatives, among other
factors. Seemingly minor
improvements to manufacturing processes may result
in valuable patents, even
when chemical processes are
not involved. In other words,
patents to more efficient
manufacturing processes
themselves may produce
company revenues independent of the internal cost
savings to the company [2].
An improved component
of a chemical production
process may also prove to be
valuable, as damages may be
measured as a percentage of
the price of the higher-value
end product of such chemical
process [3].
In return for the exclusive
rights of a patent, the innovation becomes published, so
that the state of the art is
advanced. For this reason,
certain innovators may
elect to keep innovations as
trade secrets. Unfortunately,
however, it is often difficult
to maintain trade secrets
effectively, as they may be

readily determined or copied
from the end product itself,
or disclosed without fault by
company vendors or customers, or otherwise become
known within a short period
of time. Enforcing and licensing trade secret rights
in the U.S. is generally more
difficult, and the quantum of
royalties or other damages
more uncertain, so the commercial value of trade secrets
may prove elusive to companies’ top-line revenues.

This patented fiberglass manufacturing process netted the owner
$15 million in damages from
infringement

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #79 - March 2013

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