THE REFILL "STUFFING" ISSUE
Blog post description.
11/15/20231 min read
A client had as its business model the sale of somewhat conventional refills of a consumable product, and to that end developed and traditionally patented well-designed and sophisticated dispensers of that consumable, which it leased to its customers.
But that approach simply prevented others from copying the client’s dispensers – while doing nothing to prevent competitors from selling consumables that fit and could be used to “stuff” those dispensers. That lost the client large amounts of business over the years.
The PatentXL Law Firm founding attorney developed a unique patent strategy for that client based on that client’s business model. Specifically, the strategy focused on securing patent claims that would make sellers of the “stuffing” consumable refills liable to the client for indirect infringement, thereby allowing the client to legally prevent those sellers from selling competing refills.
Notably, that novel strategy avoided any issues with “patent exhaustion” – which is a doctrine applied to the patent holder’s enforcement rights under similar circumstances. That novel strategy created and implemented by this firm’s founding attorney gained much praise and admiration from some of the client’s “Big Law” attorneys.