A CAFC's decision regarding a patent infringement lawsuit

Oct 4, 2005

A patent infringement lawsuit filed by MEMC, a U.S. silicon wafer manufacturer, in the Northern District Court of California in December 2001 ended in April 2004 with a final judgment of non-infringement in favor of SUMCO ("the first judgment"). Both parties appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). On August 22, 2005, the CAFC issued a decision that "affirmed-in-part, reversed-in-part, and remanded" the first judgment. The decision and text of the decision are as follows:

First, with respect to "affirmed-in-part", the CAFC affirmed the judgment by the district court that "SUMCO cannot be liable for direct infringement". Regarding "reversed-in-part and remanded", the CAFC decided that "there are genuine issues of material fact" with regard to the judgment by the district court that SUMCO is not liable for induced infringement. The CAFC stated "that part of the district court's judgment is thus reversed, and the case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings". The CAFC also stated that the further proceedings will involve

(i) construing the claims of the patent;
(ii) determining whether a third party other than SUMCO directly infringes;
and (iii) determining whether, if there is direct infringement on the part of the third party, SUMCO induces that infringement.

Thus, the remanded case will be conducted consistent with the CAFC's decision. Finally, both SUMCO's cross-appeal regarding attorney's fees and MEMC's appeal regarding the district court's striking of MEMC's infringement claim charts, were rejected by the CAFC.