Draft Complaint For Patent Infringement

---
name: draft-complaint-patent-infringement
task_id: intellectual-property/draft-complaint-for-patent-infringement
description: Patent infringement complaint and accompanying strategic cover memorandum for a federal patent dispute in a specified district, addressing standing, venue, willfulness, and related relief.
activates_for: [planner, solver, checker]
---

# Skill: Draft Federal Patent Infringement Complaint

## 1. Subject-matter triage
- Determine the asserted patents, accused products, target forum, filing posture, and whether the source set supports a complaint alone or a complaint plus memo.
- If multiple patents, accused products, inventors, assignees, or notice events are in play, enumerate them first and map each to the relevant claim, product, and factual predicate before drafting.
- If the matter is intended for a specific district, conform the complaint to that district’s local patent practice and any filing-side prerequisites reflected in the source documents.
- Treat the complaint as the primary deliverable and the cover memorandum as secondary; the complaint must be drafted first and must stand on its own.

## 2. Failure modes the skill is correcting
- Pleading venue under the patent venue statute without facts showing either incorporation-based venue or acts of infringement plus a regular and established place of business in the district.
- Treating general commercial presence, registration, or remote sales as enough for venue without the physical-place allegations the statute requires.
- Failing to trace ownership or exclusive rights through the full chain of title, including intermediate assignments or predecessor entities, so standing is vulnerable at filing.
- Omitting claim-by-claim and product-by-product linkage, leaving the pleading too generic to support the asserted infringement theory.
- Neglecting willfulness allegations where the source documents show pre-suit notice and post-notice continuation of accused conduct.
- Drafting only the complaint and omitting the cover memorandum that explains strategic choices, venue posture, chain-of-title posture, and expected defenses.

## 3. Legal frameworks / domain conventions that apply
- Subject-matter jurisdiction: 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a) for patent claims.
- Venue: 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b); venue lies where the defendant resides or where it has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.
- Standing and ownership: the plaintiff must own the asserted patent or hold enforceable exclusionary rights at filing; trace title through each assignment or transfer reflected in the source set.
- Patent infringement pleading: identify the asserted patent numbers, the accused products or methods, the infringing acts, and the claims implicated.
- Willfulness and enhanced damages: pre-suit knowledge plus continued infringement supports a willfulness theory; reference the governing patent damages framework, including 35 U.S.C. § 284 and the prevailing pleading practice.
- Injunctive and other relief: plead requested remedies consistent with patent-law remedies and the factual record.
- Local patent rules and docketing conventions: where applicable, align the complaint and any memo with the forum’s expected patent filing format and any disclosure or certification practice.
- If the source documents include parallel-forum or coordination facts, preserve them in the memo only if they bear on filing strategy, risk, or sequencing.

## 4. Analytical scaffolds
- Caption and parties: identify the court, parties, entity type, state of incorporation, and principal place of business where supported.
- Jurisdiction and venue: plead 28 U.S.C. §§ 1338(a) and 1400(b) with facts tied to the target district, not boilerplate alone.
- Patent ownership: build a clean title narrative from inventor or predecessor through each transfer to the plaintiff; if a link is unclear, flag it in the memo and avoid overstatement in the complaint.
- Infringement theory: pair each asserted claim set with each accused product or method and allege direct infringement with enough specificity to anchor later claim-chart work.
- Knowledge and willfulness: use the notice timeline in the source documents to allege awareness, continued activity, and the basis for enhanced-damages and case-management requests.
- Relief: include damages, reasonable royalty or other patent damages theories supported by the record, costs, fees where appropriate, and injunctive relief if facts support irreparable harm and inadequacy of legal remedies.
- Memo function: explain why the pleaded venue theory is sustainable, what standing issues were checked, what factual gaps remain, and what defenses are likely to be raised.

## 5. Vertical / structural / temporal relationships
- Align every accused product to the asserted patent claims and to the relevant infringement time period; do not merge distinct products or distinct notice events into one undifferentiated allegation.
- Track the chronology from patent issuance and ownership transfer through pre-suit notice and post-notice conduct, because timing often controls standing, willfulness, and damages posture.
- Distinguish forum facts that support filing in the chosen district from facts that merely show nationwide sales or corporate presence elsewhere.
- Where the source set contains multiple potential plaintiffs, assignees, or related entities, verify who is the proper plaintiff at filing and who, if anyone, should be described only as a predecessor or transferor.
- Where multiple forms of relief are requested, separate the factual basis for damages from the factual basis for injunction and fees.

## 6. Output structure conventions
- Complaint: use a court-standard federal complaint format with caption, introduction, jurisdiction, venue, parties, factual allegations, asserted patent sections, infringement counts, willfulness allegations if supported, and prayer for relief.
- Complaint drafting should be substantive, not merely explanatory; it must contain operative allegations rather than references to analysis to come.
- Cover memorandum: concise strategic memo that explains venue support, title review, infringement theory, willfulness basis, anticipated defenses, and any filing or coordination considerations.
- If any material factual gap remains, identify it in the memo and explain the litigation risk it creates; do not over-plead unsupported certainty in the complaint.
- Before finalizing, confirm that the complaint file is the primary completed deliverable and that the memorandum follows only after it, with both files non-empty and containing operative content.