Federal Circuit Limits ITC's Indirect Patent Infringement Authority

On Dec. 13, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in Suprema, Inc., et al. v. International Trade Commission, issued a landmark decision limiting the statutory authority of the International Trade Commission (ITC) to remedy indirect infringement, holding “that an exclusion order based on a violation of 19 U.S.C. '1337(a)(1)(B)(i) may not be predicated on a theory of induced infringement under 35 U.S.C. '271(b) where direct infringement does not occur until after importation of the articles the exclusion order would bar.” Suprema, Inc. v. Int'l Trade Comm'n, ___ F.3d ___ 2013 WL 6510929, *1 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 13, 2013) (emphasis in original). The Federal Circuit's holding effectively renders patent infringement claims based purely on alleged inducement of infringement beyond the authority of the ITC.