Inventor claims competitor commandeered the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Douglas M. Jennings designed an aftermarket dashboard bezel-that is, a molded shape that fits over an automobile's instrument panel. Hoping to make money from his design through manufacturing and selling his bezels in the auto parts aftermarket and to forestall copycats, Jennings applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) for a patent. As part of her review of Jennings's application, the patent Examiner contacted defendants Auto Meter Products, Inc., Gauge Works, LLC, and Gregory Day to inquire whether the bezel they were selling was on sale or publicly available before Jennings applied for his patent. Jennings believes that the defendants, in response to the Examiner's inquiries, fraudulently misled her into believing that Jennings was not in fact the inventor of the bezel.
In addition to continuing to pursue his patent application, Jennings filed a civil lawsuit against the defendants under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). RICO fit the bill, in Jennings's opinion, because the defendants were engaged in “the type of unfair competition that one would expect from a Mafia family or narcotics cartel.” His complaint alleged that the defendants had commandeered the PTO through a pattern of racketeering activity by flooding it (via mail and wire transmissions) with false information in order to deny Jennings a patent and thereby “exploit the market for the bezel without compensating Jennings for use of his invention.”
Unfortunately for Mr. Jennings, neither William T. Lawrence, Magistrate Judge, sitting in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, nor the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit bought his pitch.
Although plaintiffs continue to amaze me with their “innovative” theories, nearly all courts are unreceptive to RICO being "commandeered" to gain leverage in ordinary commercial disputes. See the Seventh Circuit’s opinion at Jennings v. Auto Meter Products, Inc., 2007 WL 2120337 (C.A.7 (Ind.).
