When the money clock starts and stops
The period that counts often matters more than the rate. Recovery is generally limited to infringement within a fixed look-back period before suit, so an owner who waits gives up older sales even if the patent remains enforceable. For patents covering products the owner sells, whether those products were marked, physically or virtually, or whether the accused party got specific notice, can push the start date later. Expiration stops new damages from accruing, but past infringement can still be pursued within the look-back period. Mapping those dates is often the first step in any realistic estimate.
Rough numbers, early
An early estimate usually starts from the accused revenue tied to the patented feature and a royalty range informed by comparable licenses in the field. Where that feature is a small part of a larger product, courts expect the figure to reflect its contribution rather than the full sale price, and inflated opening demands often ignore this. Owners who compete directly may have a lost-profits case, but it calls for proof about the market and their own capacity that many cannot produce. Accused companies should look at their sales of the accused feature, design-around options and their cost, and any indemnity owed by suppliers or to customers. Those figures are usually assembled with counsel so that the analysis stays privileged where possible.
How the estimate shapes the strategy
Money is not the only remedy at stake. An injunction ordering a product off the market is possible in some cases but is not automatic, and it tends to be harder to obtain for owners that only license rather than compete. A validity challenge at the USPTO, a design-around, or an early license can each change the economics, and litigation costs on both sides can rival the damages in mid-sized cases. In a first meeting we place the dates, the revenue, and the strongest arguments on each side next to one another, so that decisions about filing, answering, or settling rest on a range rather than a guess.
