False marking claims have been in the news over the past year, as most intellectual property attorneys may well know. That’s because these kinds of cases have been launched to the forefront of several high profile court decisions and, as a result, big business is lobbying Congress to change the statute.
The interest in false marking claims is so large that numerous Freedom of Information Action requests have been issued to obtain the settlement amounts from the Justice Department.
Until now, it appeared that a limited few had access to this information and even fewer disseminated that information to the public. Because of this, most people, including both plaintiffs’ and defense
attorneys, have relied on second hand sources to get settlement information on false marking settlements.
If you’re like me, you don’t like to rely on hearsay, and we no longer have to.
We’ve been informed by Justice Department officials that because they’ve received so many FOIA requests, 2010 and 2011 false marking settlements received by the government are now being released online
directly to the public.
The settlements are available in the Justice Department’s Electronic Reading Room under the “Frequently Requested Records” headline. Once there, select either “2010” or “2011” from the first drop-down menu. Then select “Settlement Payments Received for Section 292 Cases” from the second drop-down menu. As of today, it’s the only option available. Click “Select” and a PDF page will load with the settlement information.
