Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., 2009-1417
2015-08-13
Read full decision. Summary prepared by Alan Macek:
Yesterday, in a unanimous en banc decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit considered the law of divided infringement after the proceeding was remanded from the USSC (see earlier post). Where more than one actor is involved in practicing the steps, a court must determine whether the acts of one are attributable to the other such that a single entity is responsible for the direct infringement. The court held an entity responsible for others’ performance of method steps in two sets of circumstances: (1) where that entity directs or controls others’ performance, and (2) where the actors form a joint enterprise. Based on the facts of Limelight, the court found infringed and concluded that, "that liability under § 271(a) can also be found when an alleged infringer conditions participation in an activity or receipt of a benefit upon performance of a step or steps of a patented method and establishes the manner or timing of that performance."