Patent Trolls on Expired Patents
Will Shattuck
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/02/0013250/A-New-Species-of-Patent-Troll
Will
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Will Shattuck
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"When you get to your wit's end, you'll find God lives there."
Thomas "cmdln" Gideon
Hash: SHA256
On 09/03/2010 02:23 PM, Will Shattuck wrote:
> Ok. I know we live in a litigious society, but this is just stupid.
>
> http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/02/0013250/A-New-Species-of-Patent-Troll
Familiar, a follow up to the discussion around the incorrect patent
marking on certain Solo cup lids, if memory serves. The question is can
a claimant only press a suit for instances they observe? The only way
this could scale up to be a worrisome threat is if a single firsthand
instance could be extrapolated to all copies of a mis-labeled product.
I doubt that would hold true.
On the flip side, I don't think the obligation to remove indications of
patents when they have expired is a bad idea. Sure, the particular
wording of the December ruling could open the door for a lesser form of
troll but leaving the marks on arguably chills competitors unlawfully.
cmdln
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