About PMA IP Infringement

We are a CAAC-approved PMA manufacturer and a MRO in China. Apart from through licensing, we design and produce PMA by such methods as decompiling, disassembling, decoding, reproducing, redesigning, reverse engineering.

So here’s the problem. On the airworthiness side, our PMA are official approved and absolutely “clean”. But on the IP side, we may infringe OEMs IP rights.

As we know, there are four situations when FAA approve an PMA, which are:
1. License
2. Test and Computation
3. Identicality
4. Supplemental Type Certificate (STC)

How can a PMA manufacturer know if it is infringing IP rights when it is manufacturing PMA through Test and Computation and Identicality or the methods I mentioned above? Dou you guys have similar cases about PMA IP rights infringement which does not arise from breach of License Agreement?

Lutheus - Did you ever come to a final determination on this?? If you truly obtained PMA approval thru the processes described, there should be no concerns. However, if you are in possession of the OEM drawings and used those to develop your designs, well then there certainly could be IP infringement.