At all the defense contractors I worked for (Lockheed, Hughes, and Raytheon), all prime and sub contracts (boiler plate) Terms & Conditions included a Patent Indemnification Clause to protect ourselves and our customers from potential future patent infringement claims. The full burden was placed on the supplier (who may have put it on their supplier, and so on). Contracts with our customer contained it because they (ultimately the Gov`t) wouldn`t accept the contract without it. Contracts with our suppliers had it to protect us. However, this doesn`t discount what we could get from high volume suppliers to the defense/aerospace industry. Just have to look lower in the food chain. I wouldn`t be surprised if this were also true in other industries, e.g., autos. They get bit a couple of times, and take protective measures.

FWIW from a former manager, Contracts Compliance.

SGE