What do a deep-fryer maker, a used-car sales-man, and a bank officer have in common? They each played a prominent role in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent explanation of the new standard for inducement of patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. §271(b).
Last month, the Court decided Global-Tech Appliances Inc. v. SEB S.A., —S.Ct.—, No. 10-6, 2011 WL 2119109 (May 31, 2011), and put to rest decades of debate about the circumstances under which an accused infringer has violated §271(b) by inducing another to infringe a patent. Specifically, the Court held that induced infringement under §271(b) requires knowledge that the induced acts constitute patent infringement. And this “knowledge” includes not only actual knowledge, but also willful blindness. It does not, however, include a “deliberate indifference to a known risk,” as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had earlier ruled.
The Deep-Fryer Maker
