Law360, New York (September 16, 2010, 2:11 PM ET) -- In SEB SA v. Montgomery Ward & Co. Inc., 594 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2010), the Federal Circuit addressed the requirement that a party accused of inducing patent infringement have knowledge of the patent whose infringement is allegedly induced, holding that deliberate indifference of a known risk that a patent exists may satisfy the knowledge-of-the-patent requirement for inducement.

Many practitioners have suggested that the Federal Circuit’s decision in SEB changed the law or created uncertainty regarding induced infringement claims under § 271(b).

Pentalpha, one of the...