Comment by pwg
The best advice you will get is: "find an attorney and ask these questions of that attorney".
The best advice you will get is: "find an attorney and ask these questions of that attorney".
We have and of course are engaging a lawyer but we're thinking of first trying to reason with the company owner with a personal letter (or from lawyer, drafted with our input) . Wondering if anyone else has done this.
Someone I know who is a patent lawyer suggested that if I found myself in this situation asking for more details of the claim, calmly, to determine if it has substance. But depending on the counterparty's motivation that may or may not help.
Make sure that you get enough legal advice to avoid digging yourself a deeper hole: you may be wanting to mark such correspondance "WITHOUT PREJUDICE" or similar for example. IANAL and that is not legal advice.
Thanks, very clear. Hopefully we'll get it dropped before trial then find some way to counter-sue for harassment and get the fees back.
Jesus Christ, no. Get an attorney to talk to them before you fuck yourself over.
Sometimes the other party just wants to hurt/stop you, and sometimes they want to shake you down for a bit less money than it would cost to defend yourself in court. In other words, the action may not be for the apparent and declared reasons.
So seek the advice of a good patent attorney who has seen this sort of thing before.