U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit Regarding the Standard for Inducement of Infringement

In its decision of June 2, 2014, in Limelight Networks Inc. v. Akamai Technologies Inc., the United States Supreme Court unanimously reversed an en banc decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit which had held that different tests should be applied to liability for patent infringement of a method claim requiring actions by more than one party, depending on whether the defendant was accused of direct infringement or of inducing infringement. In the former case all steps had to be carried out by or under the control of a single party, in the latter the defendant could be liable if the steps of the claim were carried out by multiple parties following inducement by the defendant. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that the same test was applicable for both direct infringement and inducement of infringement.