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Well, if the product's manufacturer has licensed the patent, then the "exhaustion doctrine" generally keeps the patent holder from taking a second whack from pe
by rst 14y ago
Well, if the product's manufacturer has licensed the patent, then the "exhaustion doctrine" generally keeps the patent holder from taking a second whack from people who bought it. That's what ordinarily shields end-users of consumer products from this kind of nonsense.
If the manufacturer hasn't licensed the product, though, the users may well be fair game, in the eyes of the law.
- lutorm 14y agoBut end users generally don't know and have no way of knowing what technology is inside a product. That seems pretty sketchy. While it's true that unintentionally infringing on a patent is not an excuse, if I'm liable for someone else's infringing without my knowledge my potential liability is completely unlimited.