특허법 역외적용 개념의 분석적 고찰-독일과 미국 사례를 중심으로-

The territorial principle is the guiding principle of patent law, and it includes the extraterritorial application of patent law conflicts. The Supreme Court of United States decided that a patent owner was entitled to profits lost outside of the US due to patent infringement under 271(f)(2). An infringer had sent components of a patented system abroad, where they were assembled into a system by a third party that then competed for the patentee’s business by undercutting the patentee’s price. The Supreme Court of Germany(BGH) has held that the foreign supplier can be held liable for patent infringement of its customers in Germany even if the supplier itself only delivers outside of Germany. The supplier is liable if there are specific enough circumstances to make it appear obvious that its customers will deliver its products to Germany and offer them there. These cases are related to a foreign activity that occurred outside of the country of patent registration. However, these case are not related to the extraterritorial application of patent law. The purpose of regulating indirect infringement activity in the country of patent registration is essential in these cases. In my opinion the extraterritorial application of patent law means that a kind of indirect infringement is not required for a valid direct infringement of patent.