the catch *used* to be that if it could be proven that
you had knowledge of a patent that your product was
later found to infringe upon, you (or your company)
was liable for tripple damages - willfull
infringement.  

I recall hearing that there has been some tightening
of the requirements to prove willfull infringement,
though.

Its rather funny that patents are intended to
communicate an invention but they are the most obtuse 
documents one could imagine.  Close to the worst 3
weeks of my life were spent dredging through some 50
patents that had been tossed at my company.  I'd
rather have my toenails removed with rusty pliers...

Phil 
 
--- Russell McMahon <apptech@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
> EE as wider relevant
> 
> Free (US?) patent searches from July 1974 including
> download of PDFs 
> free.
> Haven't found out what the catch is yet :-)
> 
>     http://www.freepatentsonline.com/
> 
> They say:
>                     The FreePatentsOnline.com
> database contains all 
> patents published by the USPTO since number
> 4,000,000. New patents are 
> published by the USPTO every Tuesday, and are
> automatically added to 
> our database. Images may be viewed from the patent
> text pages. Your 
> search terms will be highlighted on the full-text
> pages for ease of 
> locating.
> 
> US patent 4,000,000 is dated July 15 1974
> 
> 
>             RM 
> 
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