So who exactly is behind all this litigation? An analysis of the suits filed since the Federal Circuit issued that decision shows that 107 defendant companies targeted amid the false-marking frenzy have been sued by small false-marking plaintiffs that appear to be controlled by lawyers, most of them with backgrounds in patents or other intellectual property matters.
The onslaught of false-marking litigation hasn’t been well received in Congress. Bi-partisan bills pending in the House and the Senate would limit such suits to competitors that have actually been harmed by false marks. In both cases, the proposed legislation would limit those competitors to asking for damages “adequate to compensate for the injury.”
