Patent infringement lawsuits could become common in today's world as new information technology is developed every day.
A bizarre situation is confronting many small-business people. Over the past year, businesses have received demands for license fees from the Lemelson Foundation as owner of patents and successor to the individual who purportedly developed "automatic identification technology." This includes bar-code reading systems and other automated inspection equipment. The foundation asserts that use of bar-code reading equipment for warehousing, inventory control, distribution and point-of-sale transactions might be infringing on the Lemelson patents. This technology has become so widespread that almost any business dealing with inventory could become a target.
As with many such threats of litigation, there is a temptation to "buy out" of trouble to avoid the hassle and expense of defending lawsuits. The license fees sought from wholesalers, for example, range from $55 to $80 per million dollars in sales revenue for a 10-year period, according to the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. Initially, several hundred major companies decided to sign licensing agreements with Lemelson rather than go to the expense of determining validity of the claims at trial.