Originally Posted by
ipfrontline.com
In its June 10, 2010, decision in Matthew A. Pequinot v. Solo Cup Company, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit provided important clarification of the federal false patent marking statute. The court upheld the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that marking a product with an expired patent number may constitute false marking. The Federal Circuit also affirmed the District Court’s ruling on intent, confirming that Solo lacked the requisite intent to deceive the public required by the statute, and so was not guilty of false marking. In doing so, the court underscored that the “bar for proving deceptive intent in [false marking cases] is particularly high,” and that the presumption of intent created by a party knowingly marking a product with an expired patent number may be rebutted “with credible evidence that [the defendant’s] purpose was not to deceive the public.”