District Court Holds That Conduct Outside the U.S. Can Constitute Prohibited Inducement of Infringement in the U.S.

Enplas Display Device Corp. v. Seoul Semiconductor Co., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, March 7, 2016

The District Court in California was required to address legal issues in order to finalize jury instructions in this declaratory judgment action for non-infringement or to invalidate certain patents relating to the illumination of displays such as watches, automobile gauges, and LCDs used in cell phones. The defendant counterclaimed for patent infringement. Among other issues, the Court considered whether the defendant was permitted to argue that the plaintiff had induced the infringement of the defendant's patents through conduct occurring outside the U.S. The Court observed that direct infringement could only take place in the U.S., but held that conduct outside the U.S. could constitute the inducement of infringement, where the resulting direct infringement was U.S.-based.

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