Quote:
Originally Posted by pking36330
At some point the B&N corporate attorney will ask the question if it isn't just cheaper in the long run to buy out the Alex device, even it they can substantiate their claim. An injunctions HURTS a company every day it's in effect. Of course, if they do negotiate a settlement with Alex designs to make it version 2 or such, you know who will pay for the added cost of that settlement (can you say B&N customers; pbook and ebook).
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There's also the question of whether the defendant, even if they are confident they don't actually infringe a patent, can afford to take the risk that the jury will get it wrong and find against them. Patent cases often involve deeply technical details, and in the US, at least, are tried by a non-technical jury which frequently doesn't have a chance of understanding the details.
The odds are very much stacked in favour of the plaintiff - they will typically sue for infringement of multiple claims, with a decision being required by the jury for each one. It often takes just one claim to be found in favour of the plaintiff to kill off a product (or company!), so if the jury doesn't really understand, and effectively tosses a coin for each claim, the chances of the defendant winning them all are minimal.
/JB