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Applying Patent Teachings in Product Liability Cases

In a product liability design defect action, evidence establishing the defectiveness of a product is paramount to a plaintiff's case. Conducting a patent search and an investigation of the state of the patent art may yield fruitful evidence regarding the defect or relative safety of the product at issue in a product liability action. But first some background to set the environment for how patents become patents.

25 minute readDecember 27, 2012 at 02:57 PM
By
Anthony S. Volpe
Applying Patent Teachings in Product Liability Cases

In a product liability design defect action, evidence establishing the defectiveness of a product is paramount to a plaintiff's case. Some jurisdictions require the plaintiff to bear the burden of offering evidence of a safer design (often defined as a “reasonable alternative design” or “feasible alternative design”).

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