Definition[]
Inducement is "the act or process of enticing or persuading another person to take a certain course of action."[1]
Types[]
There are different types of inducement in various aspects of the law such as:
- Contract law: "Fraud in the inducement"[2]
- Criminal law: "Inducement to commit a crime"[3], and
- Patent law: "Active inducement of infringement"[4]
Inducement of patent infringement[]
In U.S. patent law a person may be liable for patent infringement even if they do not commit direct infringement. Under 35 U.S.C. §271(b), "[w]hoever actively induces infringement of a patent shall be liable as an infringer." To prove inducement one must show that (1) the inducer had knowledge of the asserted patent;[5] (2) there was direct infringement by some third party allegedly induced;[6] (3) the inducer had the actual intent to cause acts which he knew or should have known would induce infringement;[7] and (4) the commission of an act that constitutes inducement, not merely the power to act or failure therein.[8]
References[]
- ↑ Black's Law Dictionary 355 (3rd pocket ed.).
- ↑ See Oi Tai Chan v. Society of Shaolin Temple, Inc., 910 N.Y.S.2d 872, 30 Misc. 3d 244, 249 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2010) (full-test).
- ↑ See State v. Gray, 227 Ariz. 424, 427 (Ct. App. 2011).
- ↑ See Black & Decker (US) Inc. v. Catalina Lighting, Inc., 953 F. Supp. 134, 138 (E.D. Va. 1997) (full-text).
- ↑ Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Bausch & Lomb Inc., 909 F.2d 1464 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (full-text).
- ↑ Water Technologies Corp. v. Calco, Ltd., 850 F.2d 660, 668 (Fed. Cir. 1988) (full-text) ("Thus, a person infringes by actively and knowingly aiding and abetting another's direct infringement.")
- ↑ DSU Med. Corp. v. JMS Co., Ltd., 471 F.3d 1293, 1306 (Fed. Cir. 2006) (full-text) ("inducement requires evidence of culpable conduct, directed to encouraging another's infringement, not merely that the inducer had knowledge of the direct infringer's activities."). See also Manville Sales Corp. v. Paramount Sys., Inc., 917 F.2d 544, 552-53 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (full-text).
- ↑ Black & Decker (US) Inc. v. Catalina Lighting, Inc., 953 F. Supp. 134, 138 (E.D. Va. 1997) (full-text).