Monday, September 21, 2009

Use of Web Browser to Display Accused Thumbnail Images Did Not Implicate Divided Infringement

The court denied defendants' motion for summary judgment of noninfringement on a divided infringement theory. The court rejected defendants' argument that the accused software did not infringe a patent claiming a system and method for providing a preview thumbnail image of a web page because "[defendants] do not supply the web browser required to display the thumbnail visual images, nor do they direct the actions of the users." "The [accused] software's utilization of a (separately installed) web browser does not implicate action by an additional party within the meaning of [BMC resources, Inc. v. Paymentech, L.P., 498 F.3d 1373, 1380-81 (Fed. Cir. 2007] or [Muniauction, Inc. v. Thomson Corp., 532 F.3d 1318, 1329 (Fed. Cir. 2008)]."

Girafa.com Inc. v. Amazon Web Services LLC et al.,
1-07-cv-00787 (DED September 15, 2009, Memorandum Opinion) (Robinson, J.)

No comments: