OPINION OF THE COURT

GARTH, Circuit Judge:

This appeal comes to us as a certified question pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b). We are asked to decide whether personal jurisdiction over an alien defendant, who is being sued on a claim arising under federal law, may be founded on the alien's aggregated contacts with the United States, regardless of the sufficiency of his contacts with the state in which the district court sits.

We hold that in the absence of a governing federal statute providing for nationwide service of process, in personam jurisdiction may not rest upon an alien's aggregated national contacts. We also hold that personal jurisdiction in Pennsylvania may not be obtained under the Pennsylvania long-arm statute, 42 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 5322 (Purdon 1981).

I.

Max Daetwyler Corporation is a New York corporation that manufactures and sells doctor blades. Doctor blades are devices with reduced thickness edges used to wipe excess ink from the printing surfaces of a rotogavure printing form. Daetwyler commenced this patent infringement action in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Rolf Meyer, a West German citizen doing business as a sole proprietor. Meyer manufactures and sells reduced thickness edge doctor blades.

The manufacture of Meyer blades takes place in Germany and the blades are thereafter sold in the United States by an independent American distributor, Henry P. Korn of New York. Sales of Meyer blades are also made by Uddeholm Corporation, a Delaware corporation which Daetwyler alleges acts as a middleman or distributor for Meyer. Uddeholm takes title to the blades in West Germany, warehouses them in Cleveland, and ships them from there to domestic customers. On occasion, Uddeholm instructs Meyer to ship doctor blades directly to American customers, but no such direct shipments have been sent by Meyer to Pennsylvania.

Meyer initially moved to dismiss this action for lack of in personam jurisdiction. Meyer contended that he had never been to Pennsylvania, had no affiliating contacts with Pennsylvania, and had never done business in Pennsylvania. Daetwyler argued that jurisdiction over Meyer was properly asserted on the basis of both the "transacting business" provision of the Pennsylvania long arm statute, 42 Pa.Cons. Stat.Ann. § 5322(a)(1) (Purdon 1981), and the totality of Meyer's contacts with the United States as a whole. Although the district court concluded that Meyer had insufficient contacts with Pennsylvania to support personal jurisdiction founded on the state long-arm statute, it nonetheless held that Meyer's aggregate national contacts yielded personal jurisdiction to determine a federal claim asserted against an alien defendant. See Max Daetwyler Corp. v. R. Meyer, 560 F. Supp. 869, 870 (E.D.Pa. 1983).

Upon motion by Meyer, the district court certified the question of in personam jurisdiction for appeal to this court. See Max Daetwyler Corp. v. R. Meyer, 575 F. Supp. 280 (E.D.Pa. 1983). We, in turn, granted Meyer's petition for leave to appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b).

II.

The issue before this court is whether, in the enforcement of claims arising under federal law, a federal court is bound to follow the particular jurisdictional principles of the state in which it sits or whether it is free to develop a federal test of amenability to suit. The question is, in effect, one of the proper influence of the source of law — state or federal — in determining the bases for the personal jurisdiction in the federal courts.

The central concern of a jurisdictional inquiry is the relationship among the defendant, the forum, and the litigation. See International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945); Shaffer v. Heitner, 433 U.S. 186, 209, 97 S.Ct. 2569, 2582, 53 L.Ed.2d 683 (1977). Because personal jurisdiction necessarily addresses both the power of the court to create or affect legal interests and the rules of competence whereby adjudicatory authority is asserted, it is tested against both constitutional and statutory standards. See World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 298 (1980); Stabilisierungsfonds Fur Wein v. Kaiser Stuhl Wine Distributors, 647 F.2d 200, 203 (D.C.Cir. 1981); Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws, Ch. 3, Introductory Note at 100-03 (1971).

In general, a court, confronted with a question of the sufficiency of a defendant's contacts with the forum state, would look to the state's long-arm statute and then determine whether the exercise of jurisdiction would satisfy due process. In pennsylvania, whose jurisdictional statute expressly incorporates the federal due process standard, the inquiry is principally one into the constitutional propriety of the exercise of jurisdiction. See Van Buskirk v. Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd., 760 F.2d 481, 489 (3d Cir. 1985). While normally we consider constitutional issues only after considering statutory arguments, see Hagans v. Lavine, 415 U.S. 528, 543, 94 S.Ct. 1372, 1382, 39 L.Ed.2d 577 (1974), we are here presented with an issue where statutory and constitutional considerations are intertwined. Indeed, because of the nature of the national contacts theory, which seeks to redefine the area of minimum contacts sufficient to satisfy due process and hence to provide a federal test of amenability to suit, a greater importance attaches to the due process inquiry at the very outset.

A.

Because this action arises under the patent laws, the due process clause of the fifth amendment guides the constitutional branch of the jurisdictional inquiry. See DeJames v. Magnificence Carriers, Inc., 654 F.2d 280, 283 (3d Cir. 1981). The fifth amendment has been construed to impose a general fairness test incorporating International Shoe's requirement that "certain minimum contacts" exist between the nonresident defendant and the forum "such that maintenance of the suit does not offend 'traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.'" International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945); see also Honeywell, Inc. v. Metz Apparatewerke, 509 F.2d 1137, 1143 (7th Cir. 1975); Fraley v. Chesapeake Ohio Railway, 397 F.2d 1, 4 (3d Cir. 1968).

In the present case, it is the situs of the requisite minimum contacts that is at issue. Daetwyler argues that because a federal question is raised, a national contacts theory should inform the exercise of the court's jurisdiction. Under the national contacts theory, the proper inquiry in determining personal jurisdiction in a case involving federal rights is one directed to the totality of a defendant's contacts throughout the United States. See Edward J. Moriarty Co. v. General Tire Rubber Co., 289 F. Supp. 381, 390 (S.D.Ohio 1967) ("the appropriate inquiry to be made in a federal court where the suit is based upon a federally created right is whether the defendant has certain minimal contacts with the United States . . . ."); see also First Flight Co. v. National Carloading Corp., 209 F. Supp. 730, 736 (E.D.Tenn. 1962) ("One fundamental principle of the Anglo-American law of jurisdiction is that a sovereignty has personal jurisdiction over any defendant within its territorial limits, and that it may exercise that jurisdiction by any of its courts able to obtain service upon the defendant.") The hallmark of the theory is that "it is not the territory in which a court sits that determines the extent of its jurisdiction, but rather the geographical limits of the unit of government of which the court is a part." Cryomedics, Inc. v. Spembly, Ltd., 397 F. Supp. 287, 291 (D.Conn. 1975); see also Centronics Data Computer Corp. v. Mannesmann, A.G., 432 F. Supp. 659, 663-64 n. 1 (D.N.H. 1977); Holt v. Klosters Rederi A/S, 355 F. Supp. 354, 357 (W.D.Mich. 1973); Alco Standard Corp. v. Benalal, 345 F. Supp. 14 (E.D.Pa. 1972).

To aggregate the national contacts of an alien defendant in order to obtain personal jurisdiction may be neither unfair nor unreasonable when assessed by fifth amendment standards. Although the minimum contacts test established by International Shoe is itself a fairness inquiry, the scope of that inquiry necessarily acknowledges that the constitutionality of a state's assertion of in personam jurisdiction reflects territorial limitations on the power of an individual state. Those strictures of fourteenth amendment due process analysis which attempt to prevent encroachment by one state upon the sovereignty of another do not apply with equal force to the adjudication of a federal claim in a federal court. See Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 257, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1241, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (Restrictions on state jurisdiction "are more than a guarantee of immunity for inconvenience or distant litigation. They are a consequence of territorial limitations on the power of the respective States.") Nor, unless state boundaries are themselves deemed to correspond to areas of fundamental fairness, should an alien defendant's preference for a particular state as a more or less convenient forum generally rise to the level of a constitutional objection.

In the instant case, Meyer employs Korn as a distributor for his manufactured blades. Shipments of Meyer blades are also made periodically to Uddeholm Corporation (a Delaware corporation with warehouses in Cleveland), which in turn advertises and solicits sales for generic doctor blades. The district court found these contacts sufficient to yield nationwide personal jurisdiction where the claim asserted arises under federal law.

Yet, even if the relevant area in delineating contacts were the United States as a whole, we would nonetheless be required to ask whether the quality and quantity of Meyer's contacts were constitutionally adequate to support personal jurisdiction. For although the present fifth amendment due process inquiry need not address concerns of interstate federalism, it must still consider the remaining elements of the minimum contacts doctrine as developed by International Shoe and its progeny.

The line of cases from International Shoe to World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 100 S.Ct. 559, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980) mandates that, in assessing the sufficiency of Meyer's contacts, this court examine both the extent to which Meyer availed himself of the privileges of American law and the extent to which he could reasonably anticipate being involved in litigation in the United States. See Kulko v. California Superior Court, 436 U.S. 84, 97-98, 98 S.Ct. 1690, 1699-1700, 56 L.Ed.2d 132 (1978); Shaffer v. Heitner, 433 U.S. 186, 216, 97 S.Ct. 2569, 2586, 53 L.Ed.2d 683 (1977); Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 253, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1239, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283 (1958). Although the assertion of jurisdiction might well be justified on the ground that only then could the substantive policies of the patent laws be given effect, we believe an inquiry into affiliating circumstances, even if national in scope, is nonetheless necessary. Otherwise, a plaintiff's unilateral activity might suffice to establish personal jurisdiction over an alien defendant.

The presence of Meyer's blades in the United States is neither fortuitous nor the result of a single transaction. Rather, Meyer, by means of Korn and possibly Uddeholm, has attempted to serve indirectly the domestic market for his product.

Although we do not decide the issue, we can appreciate the argument that a federal statute, prescribing nationwide personal jurisdiction on the basis of a defendant's aggregated national contacts, might itself be constitutional. We are, however, unaware of any federal statute which presently authorizes district courts to found personal jurisdiction upon such aggregated contacts.

B.

In the absence of a federal statute authorizing nationwide service of process, federal courts are referred to the statutes or rules of the states in which they sit. Rule 4(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides in pertinent part:

Whenever a statute or rule of court of the state in which the district court is held provides (1) for the service of a summons, or a notice, or of an order in lieu of summons upon a party not an inhabitant of or found within the state, . . . service may . . . be made under the circumstances and in the manner prescribed in the statute or rule.

When a federal question case arises under a federal statute that is silent as to service of process, Rule 4(e) adopts an incorporative approach requiring that both the assertion of jurisdiction and the service of process be gauged by state amenability standards. Rule 4(e), incorporating state jurisdictional provisions, thus invites the problems posed by this appeal.

We have recognized in the past that use of a state standard may produce anomalous results when applied to the litigation of a federal claim. See DeJames v. Magnificence Carriers, Inc., 654 F.2d 280, 284 (3d Cir. 1981). In enacting a jurisdictional statute, a state legislature is generally limited by the due process constraints of the fourteenth amendment. Rule 4(e), by remitting federal courts to state statutes, imposes similar fourteenth amendment due process restrictions on the jurisdictional reach of federal courts hearing nondiversity cases. This, in turn, leads to the prospect of a federal court refusing to adjudicate a federal claim because the courts of the state in which it sits could not accept jurisdiction.

Although the uniform administration of federal law might be enhanced were Congress to establish a general federal question competence statute, in the absence of such legislation, we are required to follow the incorporative provisions of Rule 4(e). As we stated in DeJames, while use of state amenability standards creates anomalies, "it would be equally anomalous to utilize a state long-arm rule to authorize service of process in a manner that the state body enacting the rule could not constitutionally authorize." 654 F.2d at 284.

This court is not the first to confront the national contacts theory. Although other courts have generally acknowledged the logic of inquiry into a defendant's contacts with the United States when an action is based upon a federally created right, they reason they must have a federal rule or statute authorizing nationwide or world-wide service of process before the national contacts theory can be applied. See, e.g., Wells Fargo Co. v. Wells Fargo Express Co., 556 F.2d 406, 418 (9th Cir. 1977) (refused to aggregate national contacts since Lanham Act did not grant the court broad service of process powers); Superior Coal Co. v. Ruhrkohle, A.G., 83 F.R.D. 414, 418-20 (E.D.Pa. 1979) (rejected national contacts theory in action instituted under the Clayton and Anti-Dumping Acts); Amburn v. Harold Foster Industries, Ltd., 423 F. Supp. 1302 (E.D.Mich. 1976) (court limited to considering contacts with state in patent infringement action in absence of authority for nationwide service of process); Graham Engineering Corp. v. Kemp Products Ltd., 418 F. Supp. 915, 919-20 (N.D.Ohio 1976) (same); Ag-Tronic, Inc. v. Frank Paviour Ltd., 70 F.R.D. 393, 401 (D.Neb. 1976) (same); Edward J. Moriarty Co. v. General Tire Rubber Co., 289 F. Supp. 381, 389-90 (S.D.Ohio 1967) (must meet qualifications for state long-arm statutes in action brought under the Sherman Act).

Even those few courts which have accepted the national contacts theory have ultimately grounded jurisdiction upon satisfaction of a state long-arm statute. See Honeywell, Inc. v. Metz Apparatewerke, 509 F.2d 1137 (7th Cir. 1975) (in patent infringement action against German defendant, jurisdiction found under Illinois long-arm statute); Centronics Data Computer Corp. v. Mannesmann, A.G., 432 F. Supp. 659, 664 (D.N.H. 1977) (jurisdiction over German defendant in action alleging conspiracy to violate the antitrust laws based partly on New Hampshire long-arm statute); Engineered Sports Products v. Brunswick Corp., 362 F. Supp. 722, 728 (D.Utah, 1973) (in patent infringement claim against European defendants, court finds jurisdiction under Utah long-arm statute); cf. Holt v. Klosters Rederi A/S, 355 F. Supp. 354 (W.D.Mich. 1973) (in action under Death on High Seas Act, jurisdiction found on basis of aggregate contacts, although case transferred to Florida where foreign defendant had multiple contacts); but see Cryomedics, Inc. v. Spembly, Ltd., 397 F. Supp. 287, 288, 290-92 (D.Conn. 1975) (patent infringement action in which district court held that all of British defendant's American activities could be aggregated to establish in personam jurisdiction in Connecticut because, in part, state long-arm statute had been interpreted by state courts to extend to the limits of due process).

Because, in the absence of a governing federal statute, we have found no authority for exercising personal jurisdiction over Meyer on the basis of his contacts with states other than Pennsylvania, we reject the national contacts theory on which the district court predicated its jurisdiction. We conclude that in the absence of some provision within the patent laws authorizing nationwide service of process, the district court's power to exercise in personam jurisdiction is limited by Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(e) and by the Pennsylvania long-arm statute, whose incorporation by reference, Rule 4(e) requires.

III.

It remains to be decided whether personal jurisdiction over Meyer may be obtained under the Pennsylvania long-arm statute, 42 Pa.Cons.Stat.Ann. § 5321 et seq. (Purdon 1981). Daetwyler argues that personal jurisdiction exists under the "transacting business" provision of the Pennsylvania statute because Meyer, through Uddeholm, indirectly ships doctor blades into the state. On the record before it, the district court concluded it would be hard pressed to find contacts sufficient to sustain jurisdiction. 560 F. Supp. at 870. We agree.

Meyer's independent American distributor, Henry P. Korn Associates, Inc., has sold no Meyer products in Pennsylvania. See Deposition of Henry P. Korn, App. at 69b. Nor does Meyer himself have any direct contacts with the state. Daetwyler, however, contends that Uddeholm also acts as a distributor for Meyer products and that Uddeholm has both advertized and sold Meyer blades within the state. Although Uddeholm's status as a distributor remains in dispute, record evidence demonstrates that during 1981 and 1982, Uddeholm shipped Meyer blades to three customers in Pennsylvania. See Deposition of Thomas W. Knudsen, App. at 88b. These shipments were made from Uddeholm's warehouse in Cleveland, and the blades were sold as generic Uddeholm products. Uddeholm also placed advertisements for Uddeholm doctor blades, among which Meyer products, although unnamed, might be included, in several trade publications. See Deposition of Thomas W. Knudsen, App. at 101b.

It is axiomatic that the issue of minimum contacts turns on the specific facts of each case, and that the existence or absence of personal jurisdiction depends upon an assessment of the quality and nature of a defendant's activity. See Hanson v. Denckla, supra. To find that jurisdiction over Meyer exists, we must be satisfied that not only do the facts of this case satisfy the literal terms of the Pennsylvania statute, but also that sufficient affiliating circumstances, Meyer's contacts with the forum, exist to meet the demands of due process. We are not persuaded that the occasional sales of Meyer products by Uddeholm satisfy the "indirect shipment" language of the Pennsylvania statute. Even if we were, however, it is doubtful whether such sales may be deemed acts of purposeful affiliation by Meyer adequate to satisfy due process.

To support jurisdiction Daetwyler, in essence, argues for an expansive application of the "stream of commerce" theory. Under this theory, as construed by Daetwyler, jurisdiction exists because Meyer, through Uddeholm, participated in a distributive chain which might reasonably anticipate sales of Meyer products in major industrial markets, which should include Pennsylvania. Although this argument might have some force were national contacts a cognizable jurisdictional base, a theory which we have rejected, it is unpersuasive when applied to Meyer's requisite contacts with Pennsylvania. This is particularly so in light of World-Wide Volkswagen's pronouncement that the mere likelihood that a product will enter the forum state cannot afford a constitutionally adequate contact. 444 U.S. at 297, 100 S.Ct. at 567.

We note that the stream of commerce theory evolved to sustain jurisdiction in products liability cases in which the product had traveled through an extensive chain of distribution before reaching the ultimate consumer. See DeJames v. Magnificence Carriers, Inc., supra at 285. In such cases, it was felt the presence of a distributor should not shield a manufacturer, whose products had caused harm to residents of the forum state, from the reach of the forum state's long-arm rule. It is debatable whether similar public policies are at stake in the present case. Yet even if we assume that Daetwyler's interest in enforcing substantive patent laws is at least equivalent to that of an injured user of manufactured goods in securing compensation, we have difficulty in finding that Uddeholm's sporadic transactions in Pennsylvania suffice to allow Meyer to anticipate being sued in Pennsylvania.

A review of the "stream of commerce" cases indicates that the manufacturers involved had made deliberate decisions to market their products in the forum state. See Novinger v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours Co., Inc., 89 F.R.D. 588 (M.D.Pa. 1981) (exercise of personal jurisdiction over third-party defendant, German manufacturer of automobile repair products, did not offend due process where significant number of products sold to one dealership in Pennsylvania); Hicks v. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, 452 F. Supp. 130 (M.D.Pa. 1978) (jurisdiction existed over manufacturer of motorcycles sold in Japan to American distributor and resold at retail by 55 dealerships in Pennsylvania); Keene v. Multicore Solders Ltd., 379 F. Supp. 1279 (E.D.Pa. 1974) (jurisdiction found over British corporation which had made series of indirect shipments of its product into Pennsylvania); Gorso v. Bell Equipment Corp., 376 F. Supp. 1027 (W.D.Pa. 1974) (jurisdiction sustained where French crane manufacturer sold crane indirectly through distributor and thereafter delivered spare parts in forum state); Saccamani v. Robert Reiser and Co., Inc., 348 F. Supp. 514 (W.D.Pa. 1972) (German manufacturer, who sold numerous meat choppers in Pennsylvania by means of a distributor, held subject to jurisdiction); cf. Benn v. Linden Crane Co., 326 F. Supp. 995 (E.D.Pa. 1971) (jurisdiction found over Swedish crane manufacturer whose product sold through distributive chain). The present case is thus distinguishable from those cases in which the foreign manufacturer of a defective product had either indirectly derived substantial benefit from the forum state or had a reasonable expectation of doing so. We cannot therefore conclude that Meyer's contacts with Pennsylvania are adequate to satisfy the demands of due process.

Our attention has been called to Kenny v. Alexson Equipment Co., 495 Pa. 107, 432 A.2d 974 (1981). In Kenny, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania suggested that the "purposeful participation by the seller [of a product] in a continuous distributive chain" might meet the minimum contacts requirement. Such participation, however, cannot itself yield jurisdiction in the absence of some indicia of purposeful affiliation with the forum state. In the present case, Meyer's contacts with Pennsylvania are insufficient to enable us to conclude that Meyer either attempted to obtain any benefit from the state or could reasonably expect to be haled into court there. To hold that Uddeholm's intermittent sales of Meyer blades evidences continuous distributive activity, capable and certain of repetition, is to allow the mere possibility of future contact to support jurisdiction. We do not believe such hypothetical contacts can ground jurisdiction. Nor can Uddeholm's occasional advertisements of its generic products be deemed such a sustained promotional campaign, directed to residents of Pennsylvania, that jurisdiction over Meyer may be obtained thereby. See Jacobs v. Lakewood Aircraft Service Inc., 493 F. Supp. 46 (E.D.Pa. 1980); Hart v. McCollum, 249 Pa. Super. 267, 376 A.2d 644 (1977).

On the record before us, we find Meyer lacks sufficient minimum contacts with Pennsylvania to sustain the exercise of personal jurisdiction. That part of the district court opinion, holding jurisdiction cannot be found under the Pennsylvania statute, will therefore be affirmed.

IV.

In summary, we hold that in the absence of a governing federal statute providing for nationwide service of process, in personam jurisdiction may not rest upon an alien defendant's aggregated contacts with the United States. Meyer also lacks the requisite minimum contacts with Pennsylvania to support jurisdiction.

Accordingly, we will affirm so much of the district court's order dated April 13, 1983 as holds Meyer is not amenable to suit under the Pennsylvania long arm statute. We will reverse so much of that order as retains jurisdiction over Meyer based on national contacts and we will direct that the district court enter an order dismissing Daetwyler's action.