The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit cites § 19(a) of the Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Products Liability in a case that deals with the issue of whether software is considered a “product” under the New Jersey Products Liability Act.
An excerpt from the opinion (citations omitted):
The NJPLA imposes strict liability on manufacturers or sellers of certain defective “product[s].” But the Act does not define that term. To fill the gap, the District Court looked to the Third Restatement of Torts, which defines “product” as “tangible personal property distributed commercially for use or consumption” or any “[o]ther item[]” whose “context of . . . distribution and use is sufficiently analogous to [that] of tangible personal property.” It had good reason to do so, as New Jersey courts often look to the Third Restatement in deciding issues related to the state’s products liability regime. And on appeal, both parties agree the Third Restatement’s definition is the appropriate one. We therefore assume that to give rise to an NJPLA action, the “product” at issue must fall within Section 19 of the Third Restatement.
The Third Circuit held that the software did not fit within the definition of “product” under the Restatement Third.
Read the unpublished opinion here.