I believe the answer is, "Don't bring it into the USA". If your product violates a US patent, as I understand it, Customs can confiscate the shipment.
I would be VERY interested in feedback from any attorneys who KNOW whether this is the case and what would trigger such confiscation.
My thanks to anyone who really KNOWS an answer!!
Ed
That would be interesting to know --- my take on it is this:
1. Enforcement would be difficult - since most of the imports of pen kits the customs documents say "pen kits" or "pen parts" without specifying the retail name.
2. Most of the pen kits/parts imported are not protected by US Patents so even if the shipment is opened by customs (most are not) the agent would have to know exactly what to look for to determine if it was an infringement or just another pen kit.
3. I can't imagine that there would ever be enough of those specific kits imported for the US Government to begin searching for them on their own.
Even though nearly all pen kits sold by USA Vendors are foreign made, I doubt that the total quantity imported amounts to more than a blip considering all imports. Most pen sellers import the whole assembled pens not just kits.
4. I can't even imagine what would "trigger" customs to start looking for something like this, unless it was a specific complaint made against items to a specific vendor or from a specific vendor.
Just as an aside, Dayacom lists a patent number (they must be Taiwanese) for many of their items.
It is also interesting knowing from personal experience, that patents can be granted that won't stand up when companies try to enforce them. It happened frequently in the electronics industry which is why nearly all electronics manufacturers have cross licensing agreements.
