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Move to EuropeMove to EuropePosted Oct 19, 2007 0:54 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954)In reply to: Move to Europe by simlo Parent article: A visit from the trolls The basic law has always been clear that a US patent covers making, selling, or using the invention in the US only. But there is a special statute (a relatively recent one) that covers a loophole wherein someone might make 99% of a product in the US and ship a kit to another company for final assembly and thus avoid patent liability. It says if you do that, you're liable just as if you had built it 100% in the US. But what you're liable for is what you did in the US: shipping the parts. Nobody applies US patent law to stuff that happens in other countries. Microsoft was accused of exploiting that loophole and therefore being covered by this special statute, because Microsoft ships master CDs to be copied and sold by people in other countries. The court found that shipping a master CD does not fall under the final assembly law.
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