Patent Law Practice Center

Supreme Court To Review Standard For Proving Induced Patent Infringement

Written by Brandon Baum (Partner at Mayer Brown and Practice Center Contributor) and Matt Watts[1].

The state of mind requirement for proving induced patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. §  271(b) has been the subject of recent and, according to some, inconsistent opinions from the Federal Circuit. On October 12, 2010, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A., WL 2629783 (2010), presumably to resolve the confusion.

Section 271(b) states: “[w]hoever actively induces infringement of a patent shall be liable as an infringer.”  While there are many factual scenarios under which a patentee might pursue an inducement claim rather than or in addition to a direct infringement claim, it is frequently invoked where the act of direct infringement is performed by the end-user of a product.  Under Section 271(b), the patentee need not sue the many end-users of a product who directly infringe, but instead may pursue the entity that sold the product to the end-users. (more…)