How much would you pay to protect your technology?
Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology - October 11, 2002
by Jeff Miller

Ask a few tech entrepreneurs how they budget for legal expenses, and chances are, their initial response will be the same across the board.

They'll chuckle nervously.

"The difficult thing is, until someone takes you to court, you don't know what's important," said Mark Wolf, chief executive of AmberWave Systems, a Salem, N.H.-based company developing strained silicon technology for semiconductor wafers.

At $400 an hour or more, legal help isn't cheap.

But the costs of not spending enough up front on legal help can be even more dramatic. Defending a relatively simple patent infringement suit, for example, could cost $3 million to $4 million, said Ieuan Mahony, chair of the intellectual property group at the law firm of Holland and Knight.

"That's hard for a small company," Mahony said.

And losing a case because the IP wasn't strong enough can be catastrophic.

Just ask Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp.

Earlier this month, a judge ordered that Guidant could not sell its drug-coated stents because Natick-based Boston Scientific Inc. had a superior patent claim.

Guidant already had a distribution deal in place with Cook Inc. to enter the estimated $5 billion market.

About AmberWave Systems
Founded in 1998, AmberWave Systems has become a leader in the research, development and licensing of advanced technologies for semiconductor manufacturing. By funding and guiding university research, AmberWave Systems is bringing new technology developments to fruition through patents and technology licensing. In conjunction with its university research projects, AmberWave Systems conducts its own research, development and limited manufacturing in its semiconductor fabrication facility in Salem, New Hampshire. In addition, AmberWave Systems collaborates with other technology focused companies to further expand and develop its research. For more information about the company, please visit its Web site at www.amberwave.com.