enforcement of overall aircraft design patents

[Reaper]

Hey!
I have the following question:
I just saw this patent here for a separate lift cruise eVTOL configuration: https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2704771C2/en granted in Russia. It reminds me a lot of the Aurora / Boeing eVTOL.



If this would have been granted in the U.S. to somebody, would Aurora / Boeing not be able to potentially sell their eVTOL? Or do many factors play a role like: how big is the opponent who is infringing my patent and my chance of winning; is this above actually the same or are there tiny details that still make them different in an eye of a judge.

Does it make sense to patent whole aircraft configurations or can you get around easily?

Other example would be Karem vs. Joby.

 

[Zoo Tycoon]

A few important things;-

1. The patent claims (listed at the end of the patent) are critical to protection and often cover a lot less than you might expect from looking at the illustrations. High level concept claims are frequently difficult to defend.
2. The patent protection only applies if the product/invention is commercially sold;- your free to copy what you want during the development phase and nobody can stop you.
3. You can negotiate a license to use another’s protected invention. This goes on all the time and is frequently achieved quid-pro-quo between competing concerns which limits blocking.
4. The protection is only as good as the parties ability to pay for legal action;- either offensive or defensive. Remember there’s no state funded litigation in patents.
5. The patent term is fixed and protection payments must be maintained during this period.
6. Protection only applies in countries or regions where applications and protection payments are made.

Overall it’s an expensive business which favours larger well funded concerns. With eVTOL I also wonder about the development to commercial timescale compared to the certification timeline;- a product can only be sold once it’s certified, so will there be any protection left to be advantageous.

 

[Reaper]

The russian patent above is actually an Airbus Defence patent.

 

[edwest4]

Patents for the same vehicle are often filed in different countries.

 

[riggerrob]

Some larger corporations (e.g. Toyota) file dozens of patent applications based on every drunken dream of their engineers. This strategy hopes to block any later patents filed by other companies/inventors. Then corporate lawyers try to bully smaller companies into paying royalties on items that only vaguely resemble the original patent application.
I don't pretend to be a patent lawyer, but have helped friends dodge license fees by proving "prior art."