EFF brief on Commil case

EFF submitted a brief in the Commil case:


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In our brief, we argue that inducement requires intent to infringe and if you think you’re not infringing (because either the patent is invalid or because you don’t think the acts you cause are covered by the patent), you shouldn’t be considered an inducer.

A contrary ruling would encourage patent holders to avoid clearly describing their inventions in a patent which would exacerbate the problem we already have with vague and overbroad software patents. Patent applicants could hide the ball from the Patent Office (making it more difficult and time consuming to do a good job reviewing the application) and the public (who may not understand the rights claimed by the patent holder), and still claim someone should have known that what they were doing was causing other people to infringe.


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See previous IPBiz post of 6 Dec 2014.