Intellectual Property Graphics - Getting Your Point Across

intellectual property graphics litigationIt is a visual world inside and outside the courtroom. The proof is in the success of multimedia marketing and television. Visual perception is a strong part of creating an effect. The mind uses the visual sense as a tool to assimilate facts and process information. It is possible to present a case without intellectual property graphics, but adding images and demonstrative evidence strengthens the story.

Patent attorneys often bring experts into the courtroom to support their arguments. These industry leaders teach the jury complex details involving a product or focus of the patent. It is the job of the expert witness the take muck and make into something the average individual can digest. What usually happens when cases are complex is the jury ends up desensitized and bored during expert testimony.

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The complexity of law further pollutes an already dense patent case. As experts explain the how and why, lawyers deal with the legality. The legal system is full of language and concepts that are unfamiliar to jurors. The law is a world of layers. Peeling those layers down to create one or two rational thoughts is a challenge.

Lawyers are taught to think deductively – to take facts and process them to reach a logical conclusion. Jurors do not spend years in school mastering this cognitive process. Instead, a jury looks for a story. They are told upfront the ending and then get the meat of the tale during the case presentation. The hairsplitting that occurs between experts in a patent case makes sense to the trial team; it is less salient and useful to the people who must decide the outcome.

Statistics show many jurors develop their opinion at the beginning of a patent trial, prior to the presentation of evidence. The story must break down the misconceptions and rebuild them in a way that proves the argument. The key is to reduce the complexity of the information and present it so anyone can understand. Jurors struggle to make sense of conflicting accounts. The lawyer’s job is to present facts that diffuse the conflict, changing or supporting the already set opinions.

Intellectual Property Graphics - Bringing Out Your Story

Demonstrative evidence and intellectual property graphics take that boring raw data and make it into a bestseller. The right visual aids add pinpoint clarity to arguments. A blowup of a blueprint or a cross-section of a product greatly enhances the story told by experts. Lawyers introducing documents use images to callout key sections of information to highlight and explain the layer of law that makes the case.

Visual memory is a powerful tool accentuated by intellectual property graphics. Creating an audio/visual format for testimony enhances memory retention. It is the image the jury will remember when the time comes to place a vote. The image will bring forth the facts.

In the recent case of Apple vs. Samsung, both parties were fighting for the right to market sophisticated electronics (see our articles on the topic). There are few things more complex than high technology. Telling a jury why smartphones and tablet computers offered by Samsung infringe on the patent rights owned by Apple involves convoluted data. Showing them the similarities using a visual display makes a stronger impression.

The debate of show vs. tell has been going on for decades. If tell was enough, radio would still be king. Audio and visual have a symbiotic relationship. The combination of audio and image make for a strong story that sells whether you are marketing a product or arguing a complex patent case.

 

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