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What does "doing business in the US" mean exactly? If my servers are in Peru and someone from Texas signs up to use my webserver monitoring service, I am not ex

by abcd_f 15y ago

What does "doing business in the US" mean exactly? If my servers are in Peru and someone from Texas signs up to use my webserver monitoring service, I am not exactly doing business in the US, am I? I understand if I ship something tangible to the US customers, but with digital goods or services I frankly cannot think of a situation that would reasonably qualify as in-the-US business. All those US customers come to me, not the other way around, so technically the business is being done in Peru.

adrianwaj 15y ago
Good point. Where would you physically be based, Peru? What would happen if you entered the US one day? If the US has no IP arrangement with Peru, how can troll come after you? How are they going to block your site? The US government has to censor you. Is the onus on you to stop signups from the US? How can they prove you have US customers? Reminds me of online gambling situations. In a severe case, registering the business in another country and accepting payments in bitcoin would prevent a payments injunction from US customers. Troll would have to physically track down a patent-infringer and arrest or extradite. The entire exercise becomes a cost-benefit analysis.
uxp 15y ago
If you had your business in Peru, and only accepted payment for your services with Peruvian Nuevo Sol (their currency), I don't think that you could be deemed a business operating in the US if someone from the US signed up, but was charged in Nuevo Sol, with their bank doing the currency exchange. I could be wrong though, so don't take my word. If you accepted US dollars (and then exchanged them locally in Peru, or kept them), say through PayPal or a US based Credit Card Merchant, then I could almost guarantee that is enough to deem your business as operating in the US.
rexreed 15y ago
It means whatever the Plaintiff and the Courts agree it means. The whole concept of home jurisdiction in these sorts of suits has been widely... interpreted. Hence why patent litigators often open up offices in Marshall, TX.

by abcd_f 15y ago

adrianwaj 15y ago

Good point. Where would you physically be based, Peru? What would happen if you entered the US one day? If the US has no IP arrangement with Peru, how can troll come after you? How are they going to block your site? The US government has to censor you. Is the onus on you to stop signups from the US? How can they prove you have US customers? Reminds me of online gambling situations. In a severe case, registering the business in another country and accepting payments in bitcoin would prevent a payments injunction from US customers. Troll would have to physically track down a patent-infringer and arrest or extradite. The entire exercise becomes a cost-benefit analysis.

uxp 15y ago

If you had your business in Peru, and only accepted payment for your services with Peruvian Nuevo Sol (their currency), I don't think that you could be deemed a business operating in the US if someone from the US signed up, but was charged in Nuevo Sol, with their bank doing the currency exchange. I could be wrong though, so don't take my word. If you accepted US dollars (and then exchanged them locally in Peru, or kept them), say through PayPal or a US based Credit Card Merchant, then I could almost guarantee that is enough to deem your business as operating in the US.

rexreed 15y ago

It means whatever the Plaintiff and the Courts agree it means. The whole concept of home jurisdiction in these sorts of suits has been widely... interpreted. Hence why patent litigators often open up offices in Marshall, TX.