Peter,
A few citations relating to Friedman's right to recover damages for patent
infringement.
With respect to recovering damages from the USG (from 35 USC 183):
<Quote>
Sec. 183. Right to compensation
An applicant, his successors, assigns, or legal representatives, whose
patent is withheld as herein provided [i.e. whenever publication or
disclosure might be detrimental to the national security, as described in
Section 181], shall have the right, beginning at the date the applicant is
notified that, except for such order, his application is otherwise in
condition for allowance, or February 1, 1952, whichever is later, and ending
six years after a patent is issued thereon, to apply to the head of any
department or agency who caused the order to be issued for compensation for
the damage caused by the order of secrecy and/or for the use of the
invention by the Government, resulting from his disclosure.
...
</Quote>
And from 35 USC 286 (w.r.t recovery of damages against private sector
infringers):
<Quote>
Sec. 286. Time limitation on damages
Except as otherwise provided by law, no recovery shall be had for any
infringement committed more than six years prior to the filing of
the complaint or counterclaim for infringement in the action.
...
</Quote>
Finally from 35 USC 287:
<Quote>
Sec. 287. Limitation on damages and other remedies; marking and notice
(a) [Patent holder's responsibility to "mark" items manufactured using
the patented invention] ... In the event of failure so to mark, no damages
shall be recovered by the patentee in any action for infringement, except on
proof that the infringer was notified of the infringement and continued to
infringe thereafter, in which event damages may be recovered only for
infringement occurring after such notice. Filing of an action for
infringement shall constitute such notice.
...
</Quote>
IANAL, BTW.
Based on the above though, I doubt Friedman (or his estate) have much chance
of collecting from private sector individuals. The US government is a
different matter.
Also, current patents are granted for a period of 20 years from the time of
application (which, in this case, was obviously passed long before any
significant private sector infringement might have occurred). It used to be
17 years from the time of patent grant though, wasn't it? If so, I don't
know what rule would have been applied to patents already pending when the
rules were changed.
- GH
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