What Counts as Patent Infringement: An Anatomy of the Section 271 Analysis

65 questions on what counts as patent infringement, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are injunctions automatic for a prevailing patentee?
• Can induced infringement support an ITC exclusion order?
• Can selling ordinary bolts be contributory infringement?
• Can validity be attacked in two forums at once?
• Does exhaustion let a buyer make new copies of a patented article?
• Does Section 271(a) reach conduct abroad?
• How can Festo estoppel kill a doctrine-of-equivalents theory?
• How did Centillion address "use" of a claimed system?
• How does Akamai apply to a connected-fitness platform?
• How does divided infringement cut for patentees and defendants?
• How does Teva v. Sandoz affect Markman strategy?
• How do the three species of infringement compare?
• How must equivalence be judged after Warner-Jenkinson?
• How should a company analyze a patent demand letter, step by step?
• How should a company respond to a demand letter to manage willfulness?
• Is a good-faith belief that a patent is invalid a defense to inducement?
• Is direct patent infringement a strict-liability wrong?
• Is laches still a defense to patent damages?
• Is "you infringe my patent" a conclusion?
• What are the four fences around the doctrine of equivalents?
• What are the limits of Section 271(f)?
• What are the principal invalidity theories?
• What are the two distinct steps of the post-Halo willfulness inquiry?
• What burden must an accused infringer meet to prove invalidity?
• What did Halo change about enhanced damages?
• What does a strong response to a demand letter look like?
• What does a U.S. patent actually grant?
• What does "comprising" mean in a patent claim?
• What does Section 271(a) prohibit?
• What does Section 271(g) cover?
• What factors guide the judge's enhancement decision?
• What is a Markman hearing?
• What is apportionment in patent damages?
• What is contributory infringement?
• What is induced infringement?
• What is inequitable conduct, and what does it take to prove?
• What is literal infringement?
• What is patent exhaustion?
• What is prosecution history estoppel?
• What is the all-elements rule?
• What is the best defense to patent infringement?
• What is the Festo rule?
• What is the floor for patent damages?
• What is the function-way-result test?
• What is the maxim linking anticipation and infringement?
• What is the missing-actor problem?
• What is the repair/reconstruction line?
• What is the single most important thing to remember about patent infringement?
• What is the two-step engine of every infringement case?
• What knowledge does Global-Tech require for inducement?
• What principles govern claim construction under Phillips?
• What two features distinguish inducement from direct infringement?
• What two opposite things does Section 271(e) do?
• What two timing limits bite on patent damages?
• When can a patentee recover lost profits?
• When can one actor's steps be attributed to another under Akamai?
• Where are the claims in a patent, and what are they?
• Where does divided infringement arise most often?
• Why does a competent infringement study start with the independent claims?
• Why does patent law enjoy unusual national uniformity?
• Why does Section 271(f) exist?
• Why does the doctrine of equivalents exist?
• Why do patentees go to the ITC?
• Why do the claims dominate the infringement question?
• Why is claim construction so decisive?