A New Species of Patent Troll 258
Geoffrey.landis writes "According to the Wall Street Journal, there's a new species of patent troll out there. These new trolls sue companies that sell products with an expired patent number on them. That's right, it's against the law to sell a product that's marked with an expired patent number. The potential fine? $500. Per violation. And some of the companies have patent numbers on old plastic molds that have made literally billions of copies. Using whistle-blower laws, 'anyone can file a claim on behalf of the government, and plaintiffs must split any fine award evenly with it.' You've been warned."
Re:I will love it when they lose a case. (Score:3, Interesting)
I look at this from a slightly different perspective.
If we step back and take a look at what's happening, we must remember that a patent is a government granted monopoly on an ostensibly "innovative" process or method of doing something. Patenting processes or methods and then stamping the patents on molds or whatever has become so commonplace because getting a patent has become so commonplace. Government-granted monopolies should not be given out lightly and yet a coffee cup lid has umpteen million patents covering it.
The law seems to be a little outdated, but what the molds and such hint at is that patents are being seen as rights rather privileges.
Re:Editors, please clearly define which side to ha (Score:4, Interesting)
I actually blame the company. Packaging should have an expiry date built-in at a minimum. It's not like this is difficult to do: there are expiry dates on all dairy foods, and for good reason. Society benefits when people don't eat or drink food that's past expiry on a regular basis. Similarly, society benefits when the expiry date of a patent monopoly is clearly marked.
Companies still using an old mold which doesn't have an expiry date is just greedy. They should have put the date in when they went to the trouble of putting the patent number in, or they should bear the cost of a new mold if they're still selling new products from it.
Stupid law. Should fix. (Score:5, Interesting)
An expired patent number on a product has positive social benefit. If anything, we should require the manufacturer to continue affixing the patent number to the product for a period after the patent expires. This lets you know how to reproduce the product, which you now have the right to do.
I don't know about the rest of you, but whenever I see a patent number on something interesting, I think, "OK, I can look that up and see when it expires". If they aren't allowed to keep putting the number there, the answer will always be "sometime in the future" as opposed to "x number of years ago".
In other words, if they aren't allowed to put the expired number there, it'll be harder to get the good news.
Open source projects: this means you (Score:2, Interesting)
Better check any patent numbers in those .C files and .H files for expiration.
I know i've seen patent numbers mentioned in source code before.
I'm not quite sure how the courts would deal with "possibly unlimited numbers" (of copies distributed), uncounted free downloads.
Perhaps it could be the first time a patent troll gets an unlimited damage award? "The court finds in favor of the plaintiff. The defendant is hereby order to hand over all their money, worldly possessions, and all money and worldly possessions they obtain for the rest of their natural live(s)?"
Re:Stupid law. Should fix. (Score:3, Interesting)
An expired patent number on a product has positive social benefit. If anything, we should require the manufacturer to continue affixing the patent number to the product for a period after the patent expires. This lets you know how to reproduce the product, which you now have the right to do.
Yes. I think the law should be changed, so it's OK to affix an expired patent number, as long as you print the expiration by the number, for example "Pat No 1,234,567. Expires XX/YY/ZZ
Should not incur a fine, as long as the expiration date is included and truthful.
Re:Editors, please clearly define which side to ha (Score:3, Interesting)
Until Congress extends or otherwise changes patent terms, as is its wont.
Also, from the summary:"it's against the law to sell a product that's marked with an expired patent number."
Do I smell legislatively forced obsolescence? Does this mean I can't sell old tools in a garage sale, without the mentioned patent trolls coming after me?
Re:Editors, please clearly define which side to ha (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Wildly Overblown (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Editors, please clearly define which side to ha (Score:3, Interesting)
There are many companies that have no intention of still selling the same product for 3 years and certainly do not intend to be still selling the same product for 20 years. So put a suitable patent number on say an iPhone and voila customers can't even legally resell their old iPhone by the time the new one is out, if you want an iPhone someone has to give it to you for free or you'll have to buy the new one
Re:Editors, please clearly define which side to ha (Score:4, Interesting)
When I hear words and phrases like "simple", "trivial" and "a small matter of" it's usually a good indication that these minor trifles will be done (or paid for) by someone other than the writer.
-- Henry Ford