One of the great benefits of third-party legal funding is the ability for small companies and even individuals to fight on a level playing field against the world’s largest corporations. This dynamic was made evident in a recent case, where a US inventor was able to achieve a $10 million award for patent infringement from Microsoft, after enlisting the support of a litigation funder.
Detailed in an article by Bloomberg Law, inventor Michael Kaufman has been in a decade-long struggle to receive compensation, after he alleged that Microsoft infringed his technology patent by using it in their Visual Studios Software. However, it wasn’t until he and attorney Ronald Abramson sought funding from Woodsford Litigation Funding that he was able to take Microsoft to court with previously inaccessible financial resources to fight the case.
Whilst Microsoft initially claimed it had not used the patented product to a significant degree in 2019, lawyers for Abramson discovered that this was only true for the previous year, and Microsoft had in fact been substantially using the product in prior years. After an appeal in federal court, the panel opinion stated that Kaufman should have received royalties from the product usage dating back to 2011.
Whilst victories in patent infringement cases for individual inventors is rare, Nicole Morris, a professor at Emory School of Law, highlighted that in situations where they can receive third-party funding, inventors are determined litigants due to their desire to see their own invention and work recognised.
