Week 5 EOC: Patent Trolls

­In 2010 a man named Raymond E. Stauffer went shopping at a Brooks Brothers store at a New Jersey mall, probably unaware that he would be the start of something important. Being a patent lawyer, Mr. Stauffer noticed that the bow ties at the Brooks Brothers store were labeled with old patent numbers. According to the Wall Street Journal report, "He sued Brooks Brothers Inc. in federal court, claiming it broke the law by marking its adjustable bow ties with patents that expired in the 1950s." This was a very smart thing for him to do. Not only is he making things right, he's also making some dough by doing it. A Justice Department spokesman agrees: "We do think that these suits have directed industry attention to the need to adopt procedures to assure that patent markings are accurate and to remove the numbers of expired patents from products," says Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman. "This should result in more accurate information on products and their packaging, which would be beneficial to consumers." So while it's great that Stauffer made money from this, it's even better that he's also helping people by scaring companies into checking their products for expired patents. Numerous attorneys who represent manufacturers of consumer products said that "They are checking the status of patents and scrambling to review the product lines on shelves to be sure labeling is up-to-date. And they are contacting suppliers to make sure their patents are valid." Some of the companies that have gotten in trouble with expired patents include: Procter & Gamble, Bayer Healthcare LLC, Cisco Systems, Scientific-Atlanta, Merck & Co., Pfizer Inc., 3M Co., DirecTV, and Medtronic Inc. With big names like these it's no wonder why other companies became worried. I'm sure that because of this event, companies are a lot more conscious now and make sure their patents are all good.


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