No Injunction Against Export of Machine that Performs Patented Process

In MPT v. Marathon Labels (December 12, 2007, not citeable as precedent), the Federal Circuit reversed an injunction prohibiting sales for export of a machine that performed a patented process. According to the opinion by Circuit Judge Moore:

At the outset, it must be acknowledged that the MPT patents in suit were method
of use patents, not apparatus patents. The injunction as written prohibits all
sales of the Smart Surface Placard (SSP), (the apparatus) even those to resellers who sell the apparatus for use outside the United States. None of the parties contend there is infringement for sales of the SSP to Mexico, or for sales of the SSP to a reseller in the United States who resells the SSP in Mexico. The patentee has repeatedly stated before this court and the district court that sales of Defendants’ SSP for use outside the United States do not infringe the MPT method patents. Given the parties’ admissions, the district court’s injunction is overly broad and therefore an abuse of discretion. Given the parties’ admissions, the district court should not enjoin sales of the SSP to locations outside the United States, and should not enjoin sales of the SSP to resellers who sell to locations outside the United States. Therefore, we reverse the grant of the injunction as written and remand for further
proceedings.

Read the lower court decision, via Professor Crouch's "Patently-O," with new job postings here.