Dropping an infringement claim: what are the consequences?

J. Sai Deepak's Indian blog The Demanding Mistress carries an interesting post, "Can a Plaintiff/Patentee Withdraw a Suit for Patent Infringement At Will?" (here). The post considers some of the issues that exercise the minds of litigators where a plaintiff in patent infringement proceedings decides to go no further: what happens to defences and counterclaims when the action is dropped, particularly if they raise issues that lie outside the scope of the alleged infringement? And what of costs in the proceedings, and possible compensation for loss inflicted on the alleged infringer by virtue of the proceedings being brought?

This post considers suit withdrawal issues through the prism of a Calcutta High Court decision in Dilip Kumar Dey v Vishwamitra Ram Kumar, a 1994 ruling which is quite unrelated to patent law but which is however relevant to suit withdrawal issues and the Indian Civil Code of Procedure.

This blogger wonders what the consequences of dropping a patent infringement action are within the currently less-than-harmonised civil procedure rules of the European Union's Member States, and indeed beyond.  Might the answers to these questions influence forum-shopping decisions?