Foley IP Litigation veteran Russell J. Barron has spent 31 years litigating a wide variety of patent infringement cases. That experience has shown him good steps and bad steps in the pre-suit process. Recently, Russ led a new study by the Licensing Executives Society (LES) to gather expert knowledge about components of a possible pre-patent suit checklist of general usability. LES is the largest organization in the world of licensing professionals. Naturally, the subject of enforcement is integral to the licensing process and a topic of intense LES interest.
The LES sue/don't sue checklist project at the recent LES Annual Meeting in Phoenix drew together approximately 20 licensing business people with "command" experience in patent enforcement ranging from five to over 30 years. They represented Fortune 25 companies, start ups, the government, research and development houses, and even a couple of "patent trolls." Russ led a facilitated, three-hour working session in which the proper
