High Court May Put Limits On Foreign Reach Of US Patents

Jon Tropp was quoted in an article, "High Court May Put Limits On Foreign Reach Of US Patents," in Law360. In the article, Tropp discusses the U.S. Supreme Court case Life Technologies Corp. et al. v. Promega Corp.,  which could make it tougher for companies to use American patent law to collect damages for overseas conduct. The Justices are examining a 2014 Federal Circuit ruling that held Life Technologies Corp. liable for shipping only a single component abroad to a facility in the U.K. that manufactured allegedly infringing DNA test kits sold worldwide. Exporting only one component of many should not rise to the level of a "substantial portion" of the components, in the absence of proof that the single component is a particularly significant element, Tropp told Law360. "Because enforcing the statute as written is both consistent with the court's jurisprudence and protects U.S. manufacturing and export interests at least to some degree, Life Tech may be yet another in the growing line of cases decided by the Roberts court in which the court reiterates that 'promot[ing] the progress of science and useful arts' does not mean enlarging the scope of patent rights," he said, quoting the language from the U.S. Constitution establishing patents and copyrights.