A Deeper Look Into Product Liability

liabilityAs an inventor, you want nothing more than to provide the world with something that is helpful, beneficial and entirely your own. And while the invention process is something entirely exciting, there are plenty of other legal and official components that need to be accounted for. In our last blog we briefly covered the importance of product liability and where the inventor stands in regards to responsibilities of a faulty product, in our post today we will cover, in more depth, a breakdown of responsible parties that will be looked at in the case of a product liability case.

Responsible Parties

When something goes wrong with a product, there is no one individual that gets pegged as responsible for the malfunction of a product. In many instances, the only way that product liability occurs happens after the product has been sold in a store. For a while, the requirements of product liability were formed around who purchased the time, but currently, this is not the case. Any individual that has been injured by a product that malfunctioned, has the ability to recover from the injury and make a case.

  • Product manufacturer
  • Manufacturer of product pieces
  • Individuals that put the product together
  • Wholesale store
  • Retail store

Types of Product Defects Possible

There are multiple ways that a product can be defective. Below are the three primary ways that we see products as defective.

Design Defect 

This form of defect is considered as any defect that happens before it is even manufactured. This could be a part of the design that was constructed incorrectly from the beginning.

Manufacturing Defect

This form of defect happens in the manufacturing process. This could tie back to the parts of the product being broken or disfunctional and then used in the production of the product, or if the product is not put together correctly and ultimately just manufactured poorly, then it would be considered a manufacture or assembly defect.

Marketing Defect

While the other two forms of defect are constructed around how the product is physically constructed, a marketing defect is based around the way that a product is marketed. This includes any labels, instructions, warnings or guarantees that come with a particular product. If the product does not stay true to what the product does, and it fails for lacking these necessary components, then it would fall under a marketing defect.

This is a complex process and concept. If you are looking for more information regarding product liability and where you are in regards to responsibility, contact our office and set up an appointment to work with one of our business attorneys. We’ll be able to break down your situation and move forward from there.