Developing an effective strategy -- forthcoming publication

Globe Law and Business are shortly to bring out a new title, International Patent Litigation: Developing an Effective Strategy. PatLit is fortunate to have got hold of the proofs, which make for some interesting reading.

Under the aegis of Consulting Editor David Wilson (Herbert Smith), a compendium of patent litigation strategy contributions from some 15 countries has been put together, plus a lead chapter in which David Wilson provides an overview of issues in strategy development. The chapters are drawn principally from European jurisdictions, with the addition of Japan and the United States. It is hoped that any future edition will cover India too, since that is the source of so much of the energy and long-distance thinking that has begun to shape patent litigation policy well beyond the subcontinent (think Ranbaxy and LIPITOR, for example).  Realistically, an arguable case can be made that there should already have been a separate chapter headed "Europe", since the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice in recent years -- and the wealth of commentary upon it -- suggests that European patent litigation strategy is almost a discipline that stands on its own.

This book, as is clearly indicated, is not a "this is how you do it" practitioners' textbook.  Given the complexity of the subject and the spread of jurisdictions, at fewer than 300 pages it could hardly be one.  Its strength is that its authors offer lots of different ways of doing things, whether it's in terms of picking a team, getting one's timing right, weighing risks against benefits or putting together a Plan B in case Plan A doesn't work.

Details of the book can be found here on the publisher's website. If you want any further information, you can email Sian O'Neill here.