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Freedom251 › Blog › cease-and-desist letters

What to Do When a Patent Holder Threatens to Block Your Construction Project

By Freedom251 Team · · 11 min read

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A patent holder’s cease-and-desist letter is a serious litigation signal, but it is not a court injunction. Do not let a project manager concede infringement, promise a shutdown, or alter the design before patent-litigation counsel and construction counsel have reviewed the demand. Preserve the evidence, verify what patent rights are actually in force, map the asserted claims to the project, and make a continuity plan that keeps lawful construction options open.

The legal framework below is primarily United States law. Patent rights, court powers, deadlines, and administrative review differ in other countries, so a project outside the United States needs local patent advice.

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What to do in the first 24 hours

Use the first day to protect evidence and decision-making authority, not to debate the patent by email.

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  1. Preserve every relevant record. Keep the demand letter and every attachment, patent copy, claim chart, drawing, specification, BIM file, bill of materials, equipment schedule, software version, change order, invoice, photograph, meeting note, email, text message, and dated version of the design. Suspend routine deletion and issue a litigation hold covering project staff, consultants, contractors, cloud repositories, messaging systems, and job-site photographs.
  2. Route the letter to the right people. Give it promptly to patent-litigation counsel and the project’s construction lawyer. Notify the insurer, lender, risk manager, and any contractual indemnitor as required by the relevant policies and agreements. Calendar every deadline in the letter, including a demand for a response, a license proposal, a stop-work date, or a preservation request.
  3. Stop informal technical responses. A project manager, architect, engineer, or procurement employee should not admit that a feature is “the same,” speculate about validity, or promise that work will stop. Designate one legal contact and one technical contact; route all substantive communications through them.
  4. Verify the patent record. Counsel should confirm the patent number, title, issue date, current owner and recorded assignments, maintenance-fee status, expiration date, asserted claims, related family members, prosecution history, and any prior licenses, covenants, settlements, or litigation. A letter can be based on an expired, lapsed, incorrectly identified, or no-longer-owned right.
  5. Freeze a dated technical baseline. Have the technical team preserve the design as it existed when the threat arrived, then prepare a claim chart that maps each asserted limitation to the actual materials, geometry, equipment, control software, and installation steps. Do not change a drawing merely to make the chart look better; preserve both the original and every later revision with dates and authors.
  6. Open a separate continuity workstream. Ask counsel and the project team to identify noninfringing redesigns, licensed-use scenarios, substitute materials, sequencing changes, procurement holds, and schedule contingencies. Keep those planning documents distinct from the factual record of what was actually built.

How patent infringement applies to a construction project

Claims, not the invention’s general description, control

Under 35 U.S.C. § 271(a), direct infringement generally includes making, using, offering to sell, or selling a patented invention in the United States during the patent term. A construction dispute can involve a patented component, a system assembled on site, a manufacturing or installation method, or software that controls equipment. The patent’s abstract, marketing language, and broad description do not define the legal boundary; the numbered claims do.

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A court first construes disputed claim terms and then compares the accused product or process with the asserted claims. Literal infringement generally requires every limitation of at least one asserted claim to be present. The doctrine of equivalents can create additional risk where a feature is not literally identical but performs substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve substantially the same result. The technical team therefore needs to examine individual limitations, not just whether the project resembles the patent’s overall concept.

Validity and enforceability are separate questions

An issued patent is presumed valid, but the project can still raise noninfringement, invalidity, unenforceability, and statutory-exception defenses. Potential invalidity evidence may include earlier publications, products, public uses, sales, or other prior-art records, subject to the applicable statutory standards and dates. Enforceability issues can involve conduct in obtaining or enforcing the patent, but they require specific evidence and careful pleading. Do not label a patent “invalid” in correspondence before counsel has assessed the record.

Check the rights’ life and ownership

Construction schedules often span several years. Confirm whether maintenance fees are current, whether the patent has expired or been disclaimed, and whether the entity sending the letter owns the relevant rights or has authority from the recorded owner. Review continuation, divisional, and foreign-family members separately; a related application is not automatically an enforceable patent against the project.

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Response choices and their trade-offs

No single response fits every project. Counsel should compare the following paths against the demand’s specificity, the project’s stage, and the cost of delay.

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Response Speed to reduce project risk Schedule and cost effect Legal effect and leverage Main evidence burden
Targeted hold point Fast for the disputed procurement or installation step Usually less disruptive than a site-wide stop, but can create sequencing and storage costs Preserves optionality while facts are reviewed; does not resolve liability Accurate identification of the affected feature and available alternatives
Redesign or substitute Potentially fast if a qualified alternative already exists Engineering, re-permitting, testing, change-order, and supplier costs; schedule impact depends on critical-path work Can reduce infringement risk if the revised design avoids every asserted claim limitation New claim chart, design history, code and performance evidence, and proof that the substitute is safe and compliant
License or settlement Can provide the quickest commercial certainty if the owner has authority and terms are workable Up-front and recurring payments, reporting, audit, insurance, and possible project-specific restrictions May secure rights for named sites, contractors, affiliates, and future work; terms control what is actually covered Clear definition of licensed patents, claims, territory, field of use, duration, and releases
Declaratory-judgment action Useful where a concrete threat requires an early judicial answer, but filing and venue decisions take time Substantial litigation expense and management burden; can accelerate a conflict Seeks a ruling of noninfringement or invalidity and may shift the forum, subject to jurisdiction and strategy Evidence of a real controversy, jurisdiction, venue, and a technically developed position
Defend after an infringement suit Reactive; emergency relief may require immediate briefing Potentially the highest disruption if an injunction motion affects critical-path work Allows full defenses in court, but the patent owner controls when and where the complaint is filed unless another action is properly available Complete project, technical, financial, and notice records

Can you keep building while the dispute is pending?

There is no universal “yes” or “no.” A demand letter alone does not authorize the owner to shut down the site. Continuing work, however, can increase exposure if the project knowingly performs an accused act and may make emergency-relief arguments more consequential. Counsel should decide whether to continue, pause only a disputed step, or stop broader work after considering:

  • how specifically the letter identifies claims, accused activities, and requested relief;
  • whether the disputed work is already installed, in fabrication, or still at the design and procurement stage;
  • whether a short hold preserves a realistic redesign or licensing option;
  • the safety, code, public-service, and contractual consequences of stopping;
  • the availability, lead time, and qualification status of substitutes; and
  • the cost of delay compared with the probability and consequences of infringement findings.

Use written hold points rather than an informal “keep going for now” instruction. A hold point can stop release of a particular purchase order, fabrication batch, software deployment, or installation activity while unrelated, non-accused work proceeds. Document who authorized the decision, what facts were considered, and when it will be revisited.

Injunction risk and the eBay framework

If a court finds infringement, the patent owner may seek compensatory damages and injunctive relief under 35 U.S.C. § 283. A permanent injunction is not automatic. Courts apply the equitable framework from eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, including the plaintiff’s showing of irreparable harm, the adequacy of monetary damages, the balance of hardships, and the public interest.

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Build evidence on those factors before an emergency motion arrives. Quantify the project’s critical path, safety and public-service effects, costs of dismantling or replacing installed work, redesign feasibility, available substitute suppliers, and whether money could compensate the owner. Preserve records of the patent holder’s conduct, including delays in identifying the alleged infringement, prior licensing practices, and any willingness to accept a commercial remedy. These facts do not guarantee that an injunction will be denied, but they give the court a concrete record instead of unsupported assertions about “catastrophic” delay.

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When a declaratory-judgment action makes sense

A declaratory-judgment action can seek a ruling that the project does not infringe or that the patent is invalid. It is not available merely because a business dislikes the existence of a patent. The facts must present a real controversy and the chosen court must have jurisdiction, proper venue, and personal jurisdiction over the parties.

Assess whether the threat is concrete

Counsel should examine whether the letter identifies specific claims, a concrete accused product or process, a demand to stop, a deadline, or a licensing demand. A detailed infringement charge tied to a named project presents a different jurisdictional posture from a vague marketing objection. The project’s actual conduct, the owner’s statements, and the parties’ communications matter.

Understand the Supreme Court standards

In Cardinal Chemical Co. v. Morton International (1993), the Supreme Court explained that “merely the desire to avoid the threat of a ‘scarecrow’ patent, in Learned Hand’s phrase, may therefore be sufficient to establish jurisdiction under the Declaratory Judgment Act.” The statement does not eliminate the requirement for a genuine controversy; it recognizes that a credible threat can justify judicial clarification.

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MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. (2007) addressed threatened injunctions and coercive business consequences before the accused party stopped its conduct. The opinion described declaratory judgment as “an alternative to pursuit of the arguably illegal activity.” Counsel must still analyze the specific threat, the project’s posture, and the consequences of choosing to sue first.

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Weigh strategic consequences

Filing can provide a forum and an earlier merits schedule, but it may provoke counterclaims, increase cost, or create estoppel and discovery burdens. A patent owner may respond with an infringement complaint, seek transfer, or contest jurisdiction. Compare the expected court schedule, emergency-motion risk, evidence quality, and business objectives before selecting a forum.

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PTAB review and parallel proceedings

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board conducts inter partes review, post-grant review, covered-business-method review, derivation proceedings, and related appeals. The USPTO’s resources include the December 2025 Consolidated Trial Practice Guide, America Invents Act trial rules, and guidance on institution and parallel district-court litigation.

PTAB review is not an automatic substitute for defending an infringement case. Counsel should test:

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  • whether the patent and proposed grounds meet the statutory eligibility requirements;
  • the filing windows and any one-year bar or other timing rule that may apply;
  • the likely claim-construction approach and the quality of the prior-art record;
  • the cost and expected schedule compared with district-court discovery and trial;
  • estoppel consequences for arguments that could later be raised in court; and
  • how a petition would interact with an existing complaint, injunction motion, or request for a stay.

A PTAB petition should be part of a coordinated validity and litigation plan, not a reflex triggered by the word “patent” in a demand letter.

Build a construction-project continuity plan

Create a written risk matrix

For every asserted claim, record the accused feature, each relevant limitation, confidence in noninfringement, available invalidity evidence, redesign cost, schedule effect, and license economics. Add owners and decision dates. Separate confirmed facts from assumptions, and update the matrix when a drawing, supplier specification, or court filing changes the analysis.

Protect procurement and installation optionality

Use hold points for purchase orders, fabrication releases, software configuration, and installation. Where practical, obtain nonbinding lead-time and pricing information for substitutes without cancelling existing work or destroying evidence. Keep samples, certificates, test results, and supplier communications so the technical and legal teams can evaluate whether an alternative actually avoids the asserted limitations.

Review contracts, insurance, and financing

Read the prime contract, design-build terms, subcontract flow-down provisions, indemnities, warranties, insurance policies, notice clauses, lender covenants, and delay provisions. Determine who bears intellectual-property risk, who can direct a redesign, whether a change order is available, and what notice is required to preserve coverage or reimbursement. Do not assume a general commercial-liability policy covers patent claims; have the broker and coverage counsel analyze the actual wording.

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Keep safety and code compliance independent

Do not substitute a material, component, or installation method solely to answer a patent threat until the engineer of record and applicable authorities have reviewed safety, structural performance, fire protection, accessibility, environmental, and permitting requirements. A legally safer design that fails code or creates a new hazard is not a workable project solution.

How to negotiate a license or settlement

If a commercial resolution is attractive, first establish who owns the rights and who can grant a release. Define the exact patents and claims, territory, project sites, field of use, term, affiliates, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and future projects covered. Address whether the license is paid-up, royalty-bearing, milestone-based, or limited to existing inventory.

Also negotiate practical terms: right to continue work during payment disputes, reporting and audit rules, confidentiality, quality obligations, indemnity allocation, insurance requirements, treatment of improvements, sublicensing, transfer on a project sale, termination, cure periods, and releases for past conduct. Clarify whether discussions are without prejudice and identify the person authorized to bind the owner and the project company. A settlement that names one site but omits an affiliated owner, replacement contractor, or later phase may leave the operational problem unresolved.

Mistakes that make the dispute harder

  • Ignoring the deadline: Silence can forfeit a chance to narrow the claims or negotiate a controlled response, even though it does not itself establish infringement.
  • Admitting technical facts casually: An email saying a component is “identical” can become evidence; use the formal claim chart instead.
  • Deleting drafts or chats: Routine cleanup after notice can create spoliation allegations. Preserve devices, cloud accounts, and revision history.
  • Redesigning without preserving the baseline: Keep the original design and explain every change, including who requested it and why.
  • Stopping the entire project automatically: A site-wide shutdown may cause avoidable delay when a targeted hold would protect the disputed work.
  • Continuing blindly: Ordering, fabricating, or installing the accused feature after a detailed warning can increase damages and emergency-relief risk.
  • Assuming a related patent is the same patent: Continuations and family members can have different claims, owners, terms, and prosecution histories.
  • Treating PTAB review as a guaranteed stay: A petition does not automatically pause district-court litigation or prevent an injunction request.

A practical decision sequence

  1. Day one: preserve evidence, issue the hold, notify counsel and insurers, and calendar deadlines.
  2. Days two through seven: verify ownership and status, obtain the prosecution history, identify asserted claims, and freeze the technical baseline.
  3. Week two: complete the claim chart, quantify delay and redesign effects, review contract and insurance duties, and identify safety-compliant alternatives.
  4. Before the response deadline: choose among a targeted hold, redesign, license discussions, declaratory judgment, or a prepared defense; document the decision authority and assumptions.
  5. Ongoing: update the risk matrix, preserve every new design version, and coordinate court, PTAB, insurance, procurement, and schedule decisions through one controlled governance process.

The goal is not to win an argument in the first email. It is to preserve the project’s lawful options while building the factual record needed to defeat infringement, challenge validity, obtain appropriate rights, or demonstrate why an injunction would cause disproportionate harm.

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