Life Technologies Corp. v. Promega Corp. (14-1538)
argument 14-1538Life Technologies Corp. v. Promega Corp.
Supreme Court of the United States
58 min
5 speakers
7 chapters
transcribed 5 days ago
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What is the legal context of Life Technologies v. Promega and why is it considered an international‑trade case?
We'll hear argument this morning in case fourteen fifteen thirty eight, Life
Technologies Corporation versus Promega Corporation. Mr Phillips. Thank you, Mr Chief Justice, and may it please the court. I think because this is largely an international trade case, it's probably useful to put this case in context and to compare it to the facts that gave rise to the passage of Section two hundred and seventy one F. that's at issue in this case. You'll recall that in the um Deep South case, that was a case involving a shrimp devainer in which all of the activities took place within the United States except for the final act that took less than an hour uh to assemble uh in a foreign country. Uh in that case this court held even that was not within the meaning of the of the patent statute as it existed then, and Congress then acted to fill that particular loophole.
The facts of this case seem to me to be the polar opposite of that. With Life Tech has Life Technologies operates an enormous plant in England, in the United Kingdom. Uh it spends tens of million dollars on that plant. Four out of the five components that go into the creation of the kits that are at issue in this case are sourced outside of the United States. One inside, I'll come back to that in a minute. And as relevant to this litigation, all of the kit kits are sold outside of the United States. So that the only contact that any of this has with the United States is the fact that a single commodity product is shipped to England as part of the uh process for the fabrication of these particular kits.
Now that commodity product is called tack polymerase, which uh I will readily concede that when I think about what you buy off the shelf, I don't go to Costco to buy tack polymerase, but I am told, and I think it's absolutely undisputed in the record that this is a commodity. This is at the essence of what the Congress uh enacted in F two, which is a staple article or commodity of commerce suitable for many non-infringing uses. And indeed, if you get online and put in Tac polymerase, you can find literally dozens and dozens of ways to purchase it online at this time. And that was true as much in 2006. It may have been a significant product in 1989, but clearly by 2006 it was a commodity. And so the question is whether or not simply by using a single state
Is this product available outside the US?
Tac polymerase? Yes. Absolutely. Yes. It's it's readily available throughout the world. There's no
patent on that particular component.
No, none that none that exists any longer. No. As I say, it's a commodity product.
Do we know why that particular component was e exported from the United States. He he said all the others were made in England.
I mean the key to this is you wanna you wanna get the best quality product uh presumably at the lowest possible price. Uh and and uh most of these were purchased most of the TAC was purchased from the Roche uh company. Uh and I suspect they just had a better uh supply arrangement. I mean that's that's the key to this case in a lot of ways, is what you're looking for is what are the best uh supply arrangements that you can make on a global basis. Can you get them in the United States? Can you get them outside the United States? And what it seems to me clear that Congress could never have intended was to in some way disadvantage U.S. manufacturers who are providing a particular staple. Indeed, I I would read 271 F two as saying categorically that the one thing Congress did not want to do is to interfere with the ability to of a manufacturer to provide a staple article as part of the uh as part of an activity outside of the United States.
If if all of this had happened in the United States, would there have been a patent infringement suit? That would be have mere
Yes, if everything had taken taken place inside the United States there would have been.
Well under the UK laws are patents generally enforced for items that are patentable in the UK?
Yes, yes, absolutely. And and and indeed, in this case, Promega ha I think Promega at least somebody had a patent
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the legal context of Life Technologies v. Promega and why is it considered an international‑trade case?
0:00–12:11
2
How does the argument describe tac polymerase as a commodity and why is its availability important?
12:11–20:17
3
What does §271 F 2 require about “substantial portion” of components and how is that different from §271 F 1?
20:17–29:17
4
How do the parties interpret “substantial portion” – is it a quantitative majority or a qualitative essentiality?
29:17–38:22
5
Why do the speakers argue that Congress intended the statute to avoid disadvantaging U.S. manufacturers?
38:22–49:30
6
How does the extraterritorial presumption affect liability for supplying components abroad?
49:30–56:06
7
What hypothetical supply‑chain scenarios illustrate when a single component can trigger liability?
56:06–58:36