Manufacturers of commodity chemicals and electronic components including Agilent Technologies, which filed a brief in the case, were particularly worried they might get tagged with patent liability for exporting items that wound up in infringing products overseas.
Exporting a single commodity can't trigger patent liability, the court ruled in Life Technologies v. Promega, because that doesn't comply with the requirement that an infringer export "all or a substantial portion" of the "components" needed to create a patented product.
For example, the first international liability convention, called the Paris Convention, was drafted when American nuclear suppliers were exporting reactors to Europe, starting in the 1950s.
William E. Fork, LLM '06, JD '06, became a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, where he represents electric utilities and companies on international energy transaction, export control, nuclear liability, and domestic regulatory issues.
Regardless of the exporting mechanism employed, GeneLink generates an Export Report, which summarizes all the pertinent information regarding the export, including families, chromosome (exported markers and distance between them), phenotypes included, liability class definition, and file format.
The export genotype data screen, from the Export by chromosome menu link, prompts users to specify which chromosome to export, which trait(s) to export, how to define liability classes if necessary, what file format is desired and which families to include in the export.
The exportation doctrine permits national and state banks to export interest rates that are legal in one state where they operate to any other state, thereby shielding the banks from liability resulting from state usury claims.
Ford's late start in the Chinese market has given it another liability: most of its operations are far from the coast in western China, making it much harder to export cars someday if the Chinese market cannot absorb them.
But, in some cases, it has proved to be a liability: A series of blunders by former senior Goldman executives raises questions about whether Goldman's secret sauce can actually be exported.
