even when it does, it typically allows them to retain huge profits reaped from their fraud. The patent system thus creates … a strong incentive to commit patent fraud, thereby inhibiting, rather than promoting, innovation and competition. To … combat these problems, this Article suggests a novel enforcement mechanism designed to uncover patent fraud and to sanction …

cogent analysis fails to focus adequately on the harm to the public from such fraud and restricts the scope of the fraud to … beginning. The entire concept of a design patent is a “fraud upon the public,” and it is the public that loses its rights (and … pays from its metaphorical wallet) when that fraud occurs. The Comment traces these various category errors, suggesting …

fraud” should replace the current doctrine of inequitable conduct …