Some individuals and small businesses see the lawsuits as a new and exciting business opportunity. Most large, established companies see them as a nightmare.
Hundreds of companies throughout the U.S. have been dragged into lawsuits for marking their products with inaccurate or expired patent numbers, a violation of the false patent marking statute. They face fines of up to $500 for each falsely marked item–so a defendant that makes mass-produced items may be at risk of fines worth billions, or even trillions, of dollars. Those bringing the suits get to keep half the fines, while the rest go to the federal government.
