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Supreme Court Backs Award of Overseas Patent Damages (reuters.com)
schwit1 quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that companies can recover profits lost because of the unauthorized use of their patented technology abroad in a victory for Schlumberger NV, the world's largest oilfield services provider. The decision expands the ability of patent owners to recover foreign-based damages, increasing the threat posed by certain infringement lawsuits in the United States.
Internet-based companies and others had expressed concern that extending patent damages beyond national borders would expose U.S. high-technology firms to greater patent-related risks abroad. U.S. patent law generally applies only domestically, but Schlumberger said that since the law protects against infringement that occurs when components of a patented invention are supplied from the U.S. for assembly abroad, it should be fully compensated for the infringement, including any lost foreign sales. The high court agreed.
Internet-based companies and others had expressed concern that extending patent damages beyond national borders would expose U.S. high-technology firms to greater patent-related risks abroad. U.S. patent law generally applies only domestically, but Schlumberger said that since the law protects against infringement that occurs when components of a patented invention are supplied from the U.S. for assembly abroad, it should be fully compensated for the infringement, including any lost foreign sales. The high court agreed.
The NSA runs a global phone/internet spying ring, and some people have suggested they occasionally hand over technology they intercept to American companies. If this is true, then American companies can steal tech, patent it, and sue the inventors to prevent them from using it.
The article didn't provide a link to the SCOTUS opinion, so here it is. It is an interesting split. Thomas wrote for the majority and was joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Alito, Sotomayor, and Kagen. Gorsuch wrote the dissent, joined by Breyer.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
If you don't have the means to enforce it or collect abroad, it's effectively useless.
This isn't about collecting abroad. It's about collecting locally from US companies doing business abroad. This is about you and me going about our business in the USA. It's about you having a patent. It's about me creating a product that violates that patent and in an attempt to skirt your law selling that product somewhere else in the world but not in the USA. ... Then you suing me for it.