Attorneys from the firm's Product Liability group were recently in Taiwan, where they presented a workshop—as part of an event organized by the Chinese National Federation of Industries—to keep companies up to date on liability issues in the United States and help them identify, prevent, and respond to product liability problems.

The program, in Taipei on March 14 and Hsinchu on March 17, was tailored for leaders of companies based in Taiwan who sell products in the U.S., whether those products are industrial equipment, consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals or medical devices. Under U.S. law, manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of finished products and component parts can be held legally responsible for business losses, property damage, and personal injuries caused by defective products.

The Perkins team, which included partners Craig Allely, Todd Rosencrans, Julie Hussey, Matt Bernstein and Sean Grygiel, developed and presented the workshop using a real-world case study involving a hypothetical manufacturing company and a hypothetical product. With a focus on how companies and their employees can work better, on a day-to-day basis, to reduce the risk of legal liability in the U.S. for product defects, the case study spanned the entire life cycle of the product, from initial design and testing to a mock liability trial in a U.S. court. Attendees, at the end of the mock trial, filled out a U.S. style verdict form to decide whether the hypothetical company should be held liable for personal injuries.

The event drew more than 180 attendees. Our lawyers also met with the general counsel of HTC, as well as in-house lawyers from companies such as Pixart, TPK Touch Solutions, Wonderland Nursery, Foxconn and many others.