Is It Illegal To Announce A Patent On Something After That Patent Has Expired?
from the we'll-soon-find-out dept
I'm sure many of you have noticed on various products a notice claiming that the object was covered by some patents, or that it had "patents pending." There are legal reasons for including such notices -- and it's illegal to falsely make such claims. So what happens when the patent expires and the maker of the goods still includes the notice? We're about to find out, as a patent attorney has sued some companies who continue to list expired patents on their products, claiming that this is illegal false marking of patent rights. While there may be practical reasons (the marking process was already in place) for continuing to announce the patent, it's troublesome because it's claiming monopoly rights that the holder does not have and may scare off others from making use of a public domain concept. In this age where so many patent holders view patents as important property, it's no surprise that they have trouble letting go once the patent expires and the concept is moved into the public domain.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: expired, patents, public domain
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hmm
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Should people show old patent numbers on items?
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Re: Should people show old patent numbers on items?
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DRM Precursor
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Re: DRM Precursor
It'll be interesting, though, to see how this plays out, especially considering the lawsuit over the blatantly false copyright "warnings" put on DVDs and CDs.
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Re: DRM Precursor
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Re: Peter Blaise Comment 5/6/08
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marking expired patents
--Glenn
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Expired patents and marks
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being shoved out of a patent or squeezed ???
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sec 292
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Re: sec 292
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http://www.tammytadddesigns.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=79&=SID
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grr
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