The Federal Circuit has refused to find direct patent infringement where a single party did not carry out, or at least control, all acts alleged to constitute infringement. Voter Verified, Inc. v. Premier Election Solutions, Inc., Nos. 2011-1553, 2012-1017, 2011-1559, 2012-1016 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 5, 2012). Perhaps this holding should not be surprising. However, the […]
Archive | Patent Infringement
Akamai Forces Reconsideration of Summary Judgment of No Induced Infringement
By Charles Bieneman on November 4, 2012 in Divided and Joint Infringement, Indirect Patent Infringement, Litigation, Software Patents
Having previously granted summary judgment of non-infringement on the plaintiff’s induced infringement claim because no one actor practiced the allegedly infringed claims, the court in Civix-DDI, LLC v. Hotels.com, LP, No. 05 C 6869 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 1, 2012), has now granted a request for reconsideration in light of the Federal Circuit’s en banc decision […]
Inducement Does Not Require a Single Direct Infringer, Federal Circuit Now Says
By Charles Bieneman on September 3, 2012 in Divided and Joint Infringement, Indirect Patent Infringement, Patent Infringement, Software Patents
Many owners of Internet patents must be rejoicing. The Federal Circuit, in a 6-5 en banc decision, has overruled its precedent holding “that in order for a party to be liable for induced infringement, some other single entity must be liable for direct infringement.” The Court explained “that all the steps of a claimed method […]
Is a Patent Infringed by Activation of Software Abroad from a System in the U.S.?
By Charles Bieneman on July 22, 2012 in Discovery, Litigation, Patent Infringement, Software Patents
In a discovery context, at least, one should assume that a U.S.-based system that activates software sold abroad can infringe a U.S. patent. Prism Technologies v. Adobe Systems Inc., No. 8:10CV220 (D. Neb. July 17, 2012). Prism sought financial data and activation data “pertaining to Symantec’s use of its U.S.-based software activation system to activate […]
Patent Infringement: Summary Judgment Fails Under the Doctrine of Equivalents
When is a patent infringement defendant entitled to summary judgment of non-infringement under the doctrine of equivalents? That question was addressed in CSB-Systems International, Inc. v. SAP America, Inc., No. 10-2156 (E.D. Pa. April 16, 2012), where the court granted summary judgment of no literal infringement, but denied the defendant summary judgment of non-infringement under […]
Divided Infringement and Non-Infringement
By Charles Bieneman on March 29, 2012 in Divided and Joint Infringement, Litigation, Patent Infringement Contentions, Patentable Subject Matter, Software Patents
A patent claim for configuring a “satellite” credit card of a main credit card was not infringed directly by any defendant, nor was the claim directly infringed by any third party, and therefore it could not be indirectly infringed. Spendingmoney LLC v. American Express Co., No. 3:08cv1376 (D. Conn. March 27, 2012). The claim of […]