Simplifying Multiactor Patent Infringement Cases Through Proper Application of Common Law Doctrine

摘要

Although multiactor patent infringement doctrine is not quite an example of the "isolated and sterile jurisprudence" commentators initially feared might flow from a specialized Federal Circuit,the case law on multiactor patent infringement does seem to suggest that the Federal Circuit is acting in an outcome-determinative manner, without giving sufficient thought to the theoretical underpinnings of the legal rules that it is creating and to the manner in which those rules fit into the larger picture of traditional common law principles, the patent law regime, and the U.S. legal system. Existing Federal Circuit precedent regarding multiactor patent infringement is both chaotic and complex, leading to considerable doctrinal disarray and inconsistency. This area of patent law thus does not exhibit fully those characteristics of "increased doctrinal stability" or "uniformity of doctrinal development" that Congress listed as its objectives when it created the Federal Circuit as a specialized court in 1982.