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Problems Proving Infringement of Method Claims When Multiple Actors Involved

By Michael J. McNamara and Peter J. Shen, Ph.D.
October 08, 2004

Part One of a Two-Part Series

How many actors does it take to infringe a patent? At least in the case of a U.S. patent, the answer is “One ' and only one.” This question is more than just a not especially amusing riddle. Rather, it calls attention to an issue that is likely to assume much greater importance in coming years: the need, as a prerequisite to showing infringement of a U.S. patent, to identify a single legal “actor” to whom each and every of the infringing elements of an accused system or process may be attributed.

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