“Discourage litigation, persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.” —Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln's words from the middle of the 19th century continue to ring true over 150 years later for businesspeople embroiled in intellectual property disputes.

The U.S. federal court system has, on average, initiated approximately 15,000 new intellectual property rights cases, those primarily including issues of patents, trademarks, and copyrights, annually since 2014. With these types of lawsuits usually involving complicated fact patterns and legal questions, the costs associated with litigating these clashes, particularly complex patent disputes, can easily reach seven figures. Many, but not all, federal district courts require parties to attempt to resolve their lawsuits through mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that will reduce the drain on the federal court system while simultaneously saving the parties the time and resources (i.e., legal fees and expert costs) needed to efficiently litigate an intellectual property dispute.