On November 18, 2011, Akamai Technologies Inc. tried to convince the Federal Circuit in an en banc rehearing of Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks that entities that perform some steps in a method patent claim have committed infringement; in the case of Akamai, that Limelight infringes their patented technology covering an improved method of delivering web page content in which the content provider, such as a website, delivers part of the page and the content delivery network, delivers the remainder of the content. The Federal Circuit initially agreed with the lower court, which overturned the $45.5 million jury verdict after the court ruled there was no infringement because Limelight didn’t perform all of the steps covered by the patent. Finnegan partner Donald R. Dunner told the court that the original ruling “creates a huge and… unfair loophole in the law.”
