The article pointed out that Modista didn't have the funds for a legal battle. That suggests that they also wouldn't have had the funds to file a patent that would almost certainly go to waste, and even if they did, they wouldn't get any value out of it without fighting more of a legal battle (either by suing someone or defending themselves from a lawsuit).
And more to the point, why should you have to file a patent just to get a different patent re-examined? And with as little effort as the patent office puts into examining patents (as evidenced by the patents they grant), why should anyone expect them to find other relevant patents for you?
Patents just provide a tool for stopping a competitor rather than actually competing with them. "Genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. A patent is a tool for doing 5% of the work and then sitting around waiting for someone else to do the other 95% so you can sue them."
And more to the point, why should you have to file a patent just to get a different patent re-examined? And with as little effort as the patent office puts into examining patents (as evidenced by the patents they grant), why should anyone expect them to find other relevant patents for you?
Patents just provide a tool for stopping a competitor rather than actually competing with them. "Genius is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. A patent is a tool for doing 5% of the work and then sitting around waiting for someone else to do the other 95% so you can sue them."