The personal jurisdiction burden

Robert C Mattson considers why it is difficult to find justice when US patent holders sue international infringers

Patent owners are often faced with the pre-lawsuit decisionof whom to sue for patent infringement. Even if one or more potential defendants sell an infringing product in the US, the product itself might be manufactured outside the country by a company with no US presence. A foreign manufacturer may be the most desirable target because the foreign manufacturer is a better source of discovery for liability or damages issues, or because a lawsuit against the foreign manufacturer permits a patent owner to obtain relief without having to sue a potential customer. But how can a patent owner force a foreign manufacturer with no US presence into a US district court?