BEYOND THE HEADLINES ‐The good news, the bad news and the risk. New media frequently report the results of patent litigation actions.    In some circumstances the patent owner is awarded a huge multi‐million damage award while in other circumstances the patent owner receives nothing. Ms. Kvale will talk about the multi‐million damage awards as well as the losses.  Specifically her talk will focus on the recent patent decisions involving the recreational products industry.   As illustrated by the recreational products patent decisions, an important question to ask before going to court is how strong is the patent and is it worth the expense to enforce or risk to ignore?