October 2010

Spotlight Info

In Fujitsu Ltd. v. Netgear Inc., No. 10-1045 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 20, 2010), the Federal Circuit declined to establish a rule precluding the use of industry standards in assessing infringement.  Instead, the Federal Circuit held that if claims are construed such that the reach of the claims includes any device that practices a standard, this can be sufficient for a finding of infringement.  Further, the Federal Circuit directed that, if an accused product operates in accordance with a standard, then comparing the claims to that standard is the same as comparing the claims to the accused products for the purposes of infringement analysis.  But, only in the situation where the patent covers every possible implementation of a standard will it be enough to prove infringement by showing standard compliance.  See the full summary in this issue.