A New Species of Patent Troll

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 1, 2010 @02:18PM from the easy-money dept.

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."

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Re:Activision Hit with Incorrect Markings As Well by WrongSizeGlass · 2010-09-01 15:43 · Score: 0, Redundant

How about the USPTO starts requiring the patent's expiration date in addition to the patent number on the products and packaging? This way the company still gets their "patent protection" but also clearly indicates when the patent expires which would eliminate these "we've found a new way to be greedy bastards" lawsuits?