People are increasingly filing lawsuits over expired patents. An engineer's claim against Sigma-Aldrich, a chemical company, is the twelfth such claim filed this year in courts covered by Courthouse News. Lawsuits over labels marked with expired patents are not a new cause of action, but the sudden surge in such claims is new.Harold Josephs sued Sigma-Aldrich in Detroit Federal Court on Tuesday, citing seven chemical products he claims the company falsely labels as patented, though the patents have expired.
Josephs, a professional engineer, says he sued in the public interest "to enforce the policy underlying the false marking statute, 35 U.S.C. §292."
Read more coverage on this topic from Courthouse News here.
Read the actual complaint itself in PDF format here.
(And hats off to Harold Josephs!)
