In January of this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided Centillion Data Systems LLC v. Qwest Communications International Inc., 631 F.3d 1279 (Fed. Cir. 2011), which addressed whether multiple parties can be liable for “using” a claimed system when different parties each possess different elements of the claim. In Centillion, the Federal Circuit found that “use” of a system claim under 35 U.S.C. 287(a) requires a party to exercise physical or direct control over each individual element of the claimed system.
Under 35 U.S.C. 271(a), “whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention within the United States…infringes the patent.” In 2009, appellant Centillion Data Systems originally sued appellee Qwest Communications in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 5,287,270. The ’270 patent included a claim covering a system for collecting, processing and delivering information from a service provider to a customer. Centillion alleged that Qwest’s electronic billing system “used” a system claim in the ’270 patent requiring four separate and distinct elements. On cross motions for summary judgment on infringement, Centillion conceded that the first three claim elements were directed to a “back-end” system maintained by the service provider while the fourth element was directed to a “front-end” system maintained by an end user.
