In a decision that should please American manufacturers that feed into the global supply chain, the U.S. Supreme Court has narrowly interpreted a 33-year-old law that imposes patent liability on components made in the U.S. for assembly overseas.
A unanimous court reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, ruling that shipping a single component cannot trigger a provision of Section 271(f) of the Patent Act that applies to “all or a substantial portion of the components of a patented invention” that are combined abroad.
