Court Permits Discovery of Foreign Sales of Infringing Goods Made in the United States

In a November 25, 2015 ruling, Judge Laura Taylor Swain permitted the plaintiff in this patent infringement action to seek discovery of the amount of the defendant's foreign sales of allegedly infringing goods manufactured in the United States.  The Court wrote that "[l]ong-established Federal Circuit precedent recognizes that, when an allegedly infringing product is produced in the United States and subsequently sold by the manufacturer to foreign buyers, the foreign sales are relevant to the determination of damages suffered as a result of the domestic act of infringement." Judge Swain rejected the defendant's argument that the Federal Circuit's recent tightening of the extra-territoriality of patent rights prevented the discovery sought, finding that none of the defendant's "cited authorities demonstrates that discovery of foreign sales information – which is relevant to [the plaintiff's] claim for damages for allegedly infringing activities in the United States since it has, at a minimum, implications for the valuation of the invention – is precluded by the presumption against extraterritoriality."