US Supreme Court hears Limelight v
Akamai arguments
01-05-2014
The US Supreme Court has heard arguments on the Limelight v Akamai case, which is
expected to shed light on whether a defendant can be held liable for patent infringement if
multiple parties have performed different steps of the infringement.
The case concerns an Akamai patent that covers a method for delivering content on a web
page. According to a court brief, every day one billion people rely on Akamai’s services, which
support the workings of sites including iTunes, Amazon and eBay.
The court will decide whether the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit erred in determining
that Limelight may be held liable for inducing patent infringement even though no one party
had committed direct infringement.
In an en banc decision handed down in 2012, the Federal Circuit upheld a trial court decision
that found Limelight was not liable for direct infringement (under 35 USC §271(a)). However, it
held that it could be liable for induced infringement (under §271(b)), even though no one party
was found liable for direct infringement.
Both Limelight and Akamai filed petitions for certiorari to the Supreme Court; Akamai’s is still
pending.
In March, a group of companies including Google, eBay and Facebook sent a joint amicus
brief in favour of Limelight, arguing that the Federal Circuit’s decision conflicts with the patent
statute and prior decisions of the Supreme Court.
Wayne Porter, an attorney from Banner & Witcoff Ltd in Washington DC, said that under the
law of “divided infringement”, which deals with direct infringement, “there is no liability for direct
US Supreme Court hears Limelight v Akamai case on induced infringement Page 1 of 2
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