Recently several private parties have sued on behalf of the U.S. government against patent owners for "false marking." They are asserting that the patent owners put a patent number on products that are not covered by the patent. These suits may be lucrative because the maximum damages are $500 per item (not per patent) with the private party receiving half of the damage award.

The law on how to address these suits is not presently settled so the private parties and the defendants should consider the relevant issues when litigating false patent marking cases.