Help for patent liability definition

[Thomas Blein <tblein@tblein.eu>]

Dear all,

On debian-l10n-french we are translation the Patent FAQ into. However we
have a small problem trying to translate "patent liability". Therefore I
hope you will be able to help us to understand exactly "patent
liability"

* In "patent liability" does "patent" is the noun patent (what we are
  talking about) or is the adjective with the meaning of obvious.

* Can somebody give us a small and clear definition of this expression.
* it will help us to find the correct translation.

Thanks a lot for your help.
Regards,

Thomas