Supreme Court rules in patent infringement case News
Supreme Court rules in patent infringement case

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday in Commil USA, LLC., v. Cisco Systems, Inc. [SCOTUSblog materials] that a “good faith” belief of a patent’s invalidity is not a defense to a claim of induced patent infringement under 35 USC §271(b) [text]. Commil USA, which holds a patent for technology that allows wireless devices to move easily from point to point on a wifi network, brought claims of patent infringement against Cisco Systems. The court rejected Cisco’s claim that a sincere belief that a patent was not valid negates the intent requirement necessary for induced patent infringement as unworkable because the prohibitory statute applies the mens rea requirement to the act of infringement, and not to its validity. Therefore, “[w]hen infringement is the issue, the validity of the patent is not the question to be confronted.” In disallowing a good faith defense, the court reaffirmed the protections granted to patent holders against litigation brought by competing companies that would seek to infringe based on supposed sincere beliefs.

The court heard [JURIST report] oral arguments [JURIST report] for this case in late March. The court granted certiorari [JURIST report] in December.