Xing Liu and Aaron Lukas co-authored an article on a recent order in PureCircle USA Inc. v. SweeGen Inc. that highlights the interplay between Sections 271(g) and 295 [of the Patent Act and suggests] some best practices for contract drafting and conducting discovery in cases involving process patents. A large portion of the technology that we rely on daily—cell phones, computers, and the sensors and infrastructure that connect them, as well as an increasing percentage of drugs—is manufactured outside the United States, and in particular China. Indeed, over the past 25+ years the value of goods imported from China has increased ten-fold. Most companies are aware of the potential patent infringement liability for sales made in the United States but may not know that liability for infringing a U.S. patent can also extend to the processes used to make their product—even when manufacturing is done entirely outside the United States by a contract manufacturer.
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