Vapian, that was a really good reference, and an interesting read. It pretty clearly cites a few situations where simply marking a product with Patent Pending fails to meet the standard required to establish damages in the event of an infringement.
But it ALSO points out the importance of public notice as well as the need to contact people who may potentially infringe by virtue of the fact they may not be aware of the patent... pending or otherwise!
A couple of things which are worthy of note...
1) It is not a requirement to mark a patented device at all. If a device is NOT marked, damages are calculated from the time of notification which can be satisfied by sending a letter informing them they are infringing on a patented device that is unmarked.
2) If a device IS marked properly with the patent number, then damages are calculated from Day One, as the assertion of intellectual property ownership is marked right on the item in question.
Now, the thing that puzzles me most is when an inventor files for a patent, then provides notification, that ANYBODY that is not directly involved would get bent out of shape over it.
Whether we like it or not, Patents and Trade Secrets are the two best ways to protect the interest of the inventor. With Patents, the inventor must disclose what they are doing... with Trade Secrets the inventor must HIDE what they are doing. When an inventor posts his ideas on an international forum such as ECF that Inventor has lost the ability to protect their invention via trade secrets, that part is obvious, But JUST because an inventor posts his ideas in public, this does NOT mean that nobody else had a similar idea that chose to NOT disclose what they were working on. This is where inventors lab notebooks come into play in establishing the date of the origination of their idea. Inventor's Notebook
In any given industry, similar inventions seem to pop up nearly simultaniously and there has been quite a bit of reserach as to why this happens: It occurs when there is a NEED in the marketplace for new solutions to appear. HUNDREDS of inventors individually work on ideas that have "Market Pull"... in other words, the market is ready and willing to buy new ideas that improve on the status quo.
The ECF Modders forum is filled with threads that really serve to define just how much market pull there is, and many nice solutions appear to have started there. BUT, this does not constitute proof that nobody else, anyplace else in the world, isn't working on the same problems without even knowing ECF exists. Should a posting date on ECF be used as evidence of a date of origination for an idea? Some say yes, others say no... I say it depends on the circumstance! I'm of the opinion that in the absence of an inventors notebook stating the process involved in the development of the patentable idea, complete with details of tests and improvements from the "spark of genius" right on through the prototypes, then it's probably a collaborative work and an open source project.
But it ALSO points out the importance of public notice as well as the need to contact people who may potentially infringe by virtue of the fact they may not be aware of the patent... pending or otherwise!
A couple of things which are worthy of note...
1) It is not a requirement to mark a patented device at all. If a device is NOT marked, damages are calculated from the time of notification which can be satisfied by sending a letter informing them they are infringing on a patented device that is unmarked.
2) If a device IS marked properly with the patent number, then damages are calculated from Day One, as the assertion of intellectual property ownership is marked right on the item in question.
Now, the thing that puzzles me most is when an inventor files for a patent, then provides notification, that ANYBODY that is not directly involved would get bent out of shape over it.
Whether we like it or not, Patents and Trade Secrets are the two best ways to protect the interest of the inventor. With Patents, the inventor must disclose what they are doing... with Trade Secrets the inventor must HIDE what they are doing. When an inventor posts his ideas on an international forum such as ECF that Inventor has lost the ability to protect their invention via trade secrets, that part is obvious, But JUST because an inventor posts his ideas in public, this does NOT mean that nobody else had a similar idea that chose to NOT disclose what they were working on. This is where inventors lab notebooks come into play in establishing the date of the origination of their idea. Inventor's Notebook
In any given industry, similar inventions seem to pop up nearly simultaniously and there has been quite a bit of reserach as to why this happens: It occurs when there is a NEED in the marketplace for new solutions to appear. HUNDREDS of inventors individually work on ideas that have "Market Pull"... in other words, the market is ready and willing to buy new ideas that improve on the status quo.
The ECF Modders forum is filled with threads that really serve to define just how much market pull there is, and many nice solutions appear to have started there. BUT, this does not constitute proof that nobody else, anyplace else in the world, isn't working on the same problems without even knowing ECF exists. Should a posting date on ECF be used as evidence of a date of origination for an idea? Some say yes, others say no... I say it depends on the circumstance! I'm of the opinion that in the absence of an inventors notebook stating the process involved in the development of the patentable idea, complete with details of tests and improvements from the "spark of genius" right on through the prototypes, then it's probably a collaborative work and an open source project.