Limelight Networks, Inc. v. Akamai Technologies, Inc. (12-786)
argument 12-786Limelight Networks, Inc. v. Akamai Technologies, Inc.
Supreme Court of the United States
57 min
5 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 6 days ago
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Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the Supreme Court’s initial stance on indirect infringement under §271 B?
Our last case this term is case twelve seven hundred eighty six, Limelight Networks versus Akame Technologies. Mr. Panner?
Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court. The text of the Patent Act and this Court's precedence answer the question that is properly before this court. There is no liability for indirect infringement under Section 271B unless the defendant has deliberately brought about actionable direct infringement under Section 271A. And that conclusion is strongly reinforced by the principle that the patent laws best promote the legitimate interests of inventors of the innovative innovative community and the public when rules and boundaries are clear. The Patent Act draws a clear distinction between conduct that invades a patentee's exclusive rights and conduct that gives rise to secondary or indirect liability.
And this court has consistently refused. to blur those statutory lines simply because a patent owner complains of supposed unfairness in a particular case. Instead it is for Congress to make adjustments, as it did, for example, in response to this court's decision in Deep South. It is likewise critically important for the scope of patent claims to be clear. so that the public has clear notice of the patentee's exclusive rights. And as between a patentee. who can choose the language to embody the invention. And the public Legal rules should place the obligation on the patentee to define clearly the scope of what is invented.
Mr. Panna, is this is this a a problem that's s special to business method. patents as opposed to I say uh product.
I think it is um a problem that arises with method patents, Your Honor, wouldn't necessarily be exclusively with business method patents, but I um more often in circumstances where there are interactions among various um individuals carrying out steps of a of what would be called a business method in many cases.
Should the rule be different for a method patent than a device patent?
Well I don't think the rule is different, Your Honor.
In part that's because the
statute isn't different,
I assume.
That's exactly right, Your Honor. And and of course, it's it's true that method patents have um in some ways more restricted rights associated with them. It's hard to you don't make a method or sell a method, but you you use a method by carrying out each and every step. of that method. And it's very well established and it's one reflection of the all elements rule, which is again very old, that one doesn't have infringement unless all the all the steps of the patent are carried out. Now that's the rule that the Federal Circuit applied um in finding that there was no infringement, direct infringement under Section two seventy one A. That issue is not properly before the court at this point. Um because it was the subject of a cross petition that has not been granted.
Your your position makes it pretty easy to uh get around uh patent protection, doesn't it? outsource it or or uh make it attractive for someone else to perform that particular step, and you've essentially invalidated the patent.
I don't think so, Your Honor. In in the following in in two following senses. First of all, empirically speaking, there have not been um very many cases in which um this has proven to be a problem. It has been a long uh uh long understood principle of patent claim drafting that method claims should be drafted from the point of view of a potential infringer so that all of the steps can be carried out by that uh potential infringer. Um and uh prospectively, certainly, um and given that this rule has been uh clearly articulated by the Federal Circuit now for many years, um or at least several years, uh prospectively, the patent uh applicant has every incentive to draft claims from the point of view of a single potential infringer.
This the claim that's at issue here, there's no dispute, it could have been written um in such a way that the steps would have been carried out um by a single infringer and indeed that may have been the intent. What the inventor had in mind may well have been
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the Supreme Court’s initial stance on indirect infringement under §271 B?
0:00–7:03
2
How do the parties differentiate between method patents and device patents in this case?
7:03–14:08
3
What arguments are presented about the “all‑elements” rule for method claims?
14:08–21:34
4
How does the Court view the role of common‑law attribution (agency vs. contractual) in indirect liability?
21:34–28:06
5
Why do the advocates argue that Congress, not the Court, should adjust the §271 statutes?
28:06–35:53
6
What hypothetical examples (e.g., multi‑step medical treatment) are used to illustrate liability concerns?
35:53–44:09
7
What is the procedural history of the Limelight v. Akamai case and the status of the cross‑petition?
44:09–51:58
8
What relief are the parties asking the Supreme Court to grant and why?
51:58–58:15