As a patent lawyer I feel that have to chime in here. I have read the discussions thus far and I think most people are missing one important issue. Determining

As a patent lawyer I feel that have to chime in here. I have read the discussions thus far and I think most people are missing one important issue. Determining whether a patent is expired is not actually that easy. The patent office and various databases that list patents do not say whether a patent is expired or not. The 20 years from filing rule for patent term seems deceptively easy. But there are many caveats. First, the rule is relatively new and there are still many patents out there that are subject to a different older rule. Second, there are various ways that the term of a patent can be modified, such as term extensions and terminal disclaimers. So, if you want to absolutely certain whether a patent is expired or not you must either hire a patent attorney or spend a lot of time trying to learn patent law and patent practice by yourself. As a patent attorney I should not complain, I suppose, but I think the law referenced in the article makes sense. False patent markings do discourage competition, and it is not actually that easy for the ordinary potential competitor to determine if a patent is valid or not. Although, the penalty of 500 per item may be a bit excessive.