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An Objective View of Fault in Patent Infringement
Journal article

An Objective View of Fault in Patent Infringement

American University Law Review, Vol.60(6), pp.1575-1633
08/2011
url
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1680623View

Abstract

The most common form of patent infringement is direct infringement, a strict liability claim. No fault is necessary. There are other infringement doctrines, however, that require some form of fault. Principal among these are indirect infringement, which occurs when one engages in behavior that aids or encourages another to infringe a patent, and willful infringement, which requires culpability above and beyond merely engaging in the infringing acts. In this article, the author seeks to explain why viewing fault as a mental state inquiry is so problematic, and propose a new way to deal with the issue. This article suggests that the conventional approach is the wrong view of the fault element of indirect infringement, both in its contributory infringement and inducement forms. Rather than attempting to see these doctrines as requiring a culpable state of mind vis-a-vis infringement of a patent, he proposes that an analysis more relevant to the present context of patent infringement is necessary.
Law Intellectual Property Law

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