Wanted: A standard for virtual patent marking

Patent marking is used by patentees to provide a form of notice to the public about the existence of a patent and can increase damages awarded in cases of infringement. Historically, marking is done by listing the associated patents on the product they cover. Virtual patent marking (VPM), or web marking, offers patentees a convenient alternative to this practice by allowing patentees to place a web address, linking to a list of the associated patents, on the product instead of the static patent list. However, due to uncertainty in the legal community about proper implementation, adoption has been slow, despite broad agreement on their many advantages over traditional marking. In this article, we lay out guidelines for the proper implementation of VPMs and call for a formal standard to encourage their adoption.