+ - Appeals court: You can infringe a patent even if you didn't do all the steps-> 1
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by
reebmmm
reebmmm writes "In a much anticipated patent law case, an en banc panel of the Federal Circuit overturned existing law and came out in favor a new rule for indirect infringement: you can still be liable for infringing even if no single person does all the infringement.
This case consolidated two different cases involving internet patents. In McKesson v. Epic, a lower court found that Epic did not infringe a patent about a patient portal because one of the steps was performed by the patient accessing the portal. In Akamai v. Limelight, the lower court found that Limelight did not infringe because its customers, not the company itself, tagged content.
This is likely headed for the Supreme Court."
Link to Original Source
This case consolidated two different cases involving internet patents. In McKesson v. Epic, a lower court found that Epic did not infringe a patent about a patient portal because one of the steps was performed by the patient accessing the portal. In Akamai v. Limelight, the lower court found that Limelight did not infringe because its customers, not the company itself, tagged content.
This is likely headed for the Supreme Court."
Link to Original Source
The out of control patent lawsuits (Score:2)
The Patent Laws were intended to protect the rights of the INVENTORS - yes, INVENTORS
But nowadays, many of the patent lawsuits that we see around us are brought on not by the INVENTORS themselves, but by those deep-pocket patent trolls
In other words, due to the abuse, the patent laws have lost their original usefulness
While I am not advocating throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I do reckon that it's time the patent system must be re-structured, or else, the whole engine of innovation will be ground t