revlis; Don't know where that person got that information, but it is not true. A patent infringement case can be initiated in federal court or the ITC on the basis of a single sample imported into the US.
Here is a Federal Circuit decision which allowed an infringement case to go forward where only a piece of medical equipment was imported into the US for use in a trade show. The item did not yet have FDA approval for sale in the US.
In regard to the ITC, note the highlighted section from the article.
"Establishing a case To establish standing at the ITC, the complaining party must prove that it owns the asserted patent, that the accused product was imported into the US, and that an industry in the US relating to the articles protected by the asserted IP right exists or is in the process of being established – in other words, that there is a relevant domestic industry. Patent ownership is typically established by the submission of a certified copy of the patent and patent assignment. Importation is typically established by the submission of shipping labels taken from a sample accused product purchased in the US. Decisions by the ITC and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) indicate that a single importation of an accused article may be sufficient to satisfy the ITC’s importation requirement, and that the electronic importation of an accused product, such as an infringing computer software program, in digital form may also be sufficient."
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