

A new species of patent trolls: Marking trolls - petewarden
http://overlawyered.com/2010/01/open-season-for-false-marking-bounty-hunters/

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mmastrac
Troll is a bit confusing as a term here - these 'marking trolls' are
manufacturing companies stamping fraudulent or misrepresented patents numbers
or patent pending claims on a product.

Better info here:
<http://www.foley.com/publications/pub_detail.aspx?pubid=6695>

Whoever marks upon, or affixes to, or uses in advertising in connection with
any unpatented article, the word “patent” or any word or number importing that
the same is patented for the purpose of deceiving the public … Shall be fined
not more than $500 for every such offense. 35 U.S.C. § 292.

The statute also prohibits falsely marking products with the words “patent
pending” or “patent applied for” with the purpose of deceiving the public. The
statute has a broad standing provision that permits “any person” to sue for
the penalty and split the proceeds with the federal government.

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petewarden
Actually the troll term applies to the lawyers that specialize in finding
items being sold with expired patent numbers on them:

<http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/a-fortune-in-his-coffee-cup/>

They don't need to have any connection with the offending firms, and they get
half the fine as a bounty. At $500 _per item_ , that's quite a haul! In the
original case, a lawyer noticed his coffee cup was stamped with out-dated
patent numbers, so imagine the potential fine there.

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henrikschroder
I don't see how this is actually bad? Everybody wins, except the companies
that use actually fraudulent marketing.

~~~
petewarden
Why exactly do we need to pay a lawyer $250 per coffee cup to stop this?
Leaving patent numbers on designs you've been selling for decades is a
technical violation, but this sort of bounty-seeking loophole is a terrible
way to stop it.

