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Authored by: TomWiles on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 02:10 PM EDT |
A strange quirk in our law.
The PTO can issue a patent but does not have final authority to invalidate a
patent it has issued, only the court can do that if the patent holder has the
incentive and wherewithal to push the issue to the final court.
Once issued, the patent is valid until final disposition which can take many
years if the patent holder drags the process out long enough.
Any final court action against an infringer stands even though the patent is
later invalidated.
That, unfortunately for us, is how the law was explained to me.
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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 07:14 PM EDT |
Once the pending patent has become a bona fide patent, the patent owner can
legitimately sue for infringement; the "patent pending" is a warning
to would-be infringers of this fact.
On the other hand, an invalidated patent will never subsequently carry legal any
weight.[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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