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Inventor Leverages Litigation Funding to Beat Microsoft

One of the great benefits of third-party legal funding is the ability for small companies and even individuals to fight on a level playing field against the world’s largest corporations. This dynamic was made evident in a recent case, where a US inventor was able to achieve a $10 million award for patent infringement from Microsoft, after enlisting the support of a litigation funder.

Detailed in an article by Bloomberg Law, inventor Michael Kaufman has been in a decade-long struggle to receive compensation, after he alleged that Microsoft infringed his technology patent by using it in their Visual Studios Software. However, it wasn’t until he and attorney Ronald Abramson sought funding from Woodsford Litigation Funding that he was able to take Microsoft to court with previously inaccessible financial resources to fight the case.

Whilst Microsoft initially claimed it had not used the patented product to a significant degree in 2019, lawyers for Abramson discovered that this was only true for the previous year, and Microsoft had in fact been substantially using the product in prior years. After an appeal in federal court, the panel opinion stated that Kaufman should have received royalties from the product usage dating back to 2011.

Whilst victories in patent infringement cases for individual inventors is rare, Nicole Morris, a professor at Emory School of Law, highlighted that in situations where they can receive third-party funding, inventors are determined litigants due to their desire to see their own invention and work recognised.

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Case Developments Commercial

Bench Walk to Recoup First Cut of Lupaka’s $65M Peru Award

By John Freund |

Canadian miner Lupaka Gold has landed the sort of out-of-the-blue windfall that keeps arbitration funders in business. An ICSID tribunal has ordered the Republic of Peru to pay the TSX-V-listed junior roughly $65 million—the full compensation Lupaka sought over the 2018 shuttering of its Invicta gold project, plus costs and compound interest dating back nearly six years.

A press release in GlobeNewswire states that Lupaka will not be the first to collect the proceeds. Under its non-recourse financing agreement, the initial distributions flow to Bench Walk Advisors, the New York- and London-based funder that bankrolled the treaty claim and fronted more than US $4 million in arbitration costs. Only after Bench Walk is made whole—and receives its agreed return—will the miner’s shareholders see any cash.

The award exemplifies how litigation finance is reshaping investor-state disputes. Bench Walk assumed the risk that Peru might prevail or drag the process out indefinitely; in exchange it now stands to crystalise a sizeable, near-term return once enforcement begins. Lupaka’s management, for its part, concedes that “a few more hoops” remain before Peru’s treasury wires the money, but the tribunal’s merits ruling removes the biggest hurdle.

The case reinforces third-party funding’s strategic utility for smaller resource companies facing sovereign interference—especially in Latin America’s mining belt, where political risk remains acute. Funders will parse the award’s interest mechanics as a template for quantifying damages over protracted timelines. More broadly, the result helps validate Bench Walk’s aggressive expansion into treaty arbitration and may spur peers to chase similar high-beta opportunities, even as governments and the UN-backed ICSID reform process debate tighter disclosure around funding arrangements.

Case Developments Commercial

Argentina Seeks UK Stay on $16 B YPF Judgment Backed by Burford

By John Freund |

Even as a U.S. court ordered the hand-over of YPF shares, Argentina raced to London’s High Court to stall UK recognition of the same multi-billion award.

An article in Reuters recounts how government counsel told the court that enforcing the U.S. judgment before appellate review would cause no prejudice because “there are no assets here” to seize. The Burford-funded plaintiffs countered that Argentina’s bid is a delay tactic and asked for a £2.0 billion security if any pause is granted, noting interest is compounding at US $2.5 million per day.

The duelling venues highlight Burford’s trans-Atlantic enforcement campaign and the growing strategic sophistication of funders in sovereign disputes. London has become the favoured battleground for enforcing U.S. commercial awards against states, thanks to Section 101 of the 2006 Arbitration Act and the city’s deep asset pool.

For funders, the hearing underscores the need to pursue parallel forums to pressure recalcitrant states—especially when holdings (like YPF shares) sit outside the U.S. A reserved security order could significantly raise Argentina’s cost of delay and signal to other sovereign debtors that London courts will not rubber-stamp tactical pauses. The outcome will be closely watched by hedge funds and litigation financiers eyeing distressed-sovereign opportunities.

Case Developments Commercial

Burford Keeps Control in Turkey Price-Fixing Antitrust Battle

By John Freund |

A federal magistrate in Chicago has handed Burford Capital a fresh victory in its effort to monetise Sysco-assigned antitrust claims against the U.S. turkey industry.

An article in Reuters reports that Judge Sunil Harjani rejected arguments from Tyson Foods, Perdue, Hormel and Butterball that Burford’s affiliate, Carina Ventures, lacked standing or offended public policy by pursuing the case despite never purchasing a single drumstick. Harjani’s opinion emphasised that Congress—not the courts—must decide whether third-party funding is permissible and found no evidence Carina or Burford had distorted the litigation. He also brushed aside a Sysco-centric fairness attack, noting that sophisticated businesses are free to structure their claims as they see fit.

The order is the latest twist in Burford’s multiyear protein-price saga. After investing US $140 million to bankroll Sysco’s chicken, pork and turkey cartel suits, the funder clashed with its client over settlement strategy, ultimately receiving the claims by assignment. With chicken and pork fights largely resolved, the turkey docket is now a bell-wether for whether funders can step directly into plaintiffs’ shoes when contracts allow.

For litigation financiers, Harjani’s ruling reinforces that properly drafted assignments can survive policy challenges, even in food-price cases that attract political scrutiny. The decision also undercuts insurer-driven narratives that funding itself inflates “social inflation.”