(FORTUNE Small Business) – Smalltime inventors know how hard it is to stop a big corporation from stealing their ideas, and patent-infringement lawsuits typically cost each side at least $500,000 to litigate. Although the number of such cases filed in U.S. district courts has risen 67% since 1990, a federal court ruling last year made it harder than ever for entrepreneurs to prove a "willful" infringement of their patents. "Intellectual-property rights are constitutionally granted, but generally they're only enforceable by those who have resources," says Ian Chan Hodges, 39, managing director of Responsible Markets, a Hawaiian investment firm. Hodges should know: His father's patented idea for an ergonomic keyboard was copied by companies that never paid a cent. Now the younger Hodges is starting the nation's first insurance carrier dedicated solely to intellectual property. The yet-to-be-named firm plans to charge between $7 and $10 per $1,000 of coverage. --IAN MOUNT