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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

JOHN R. GAMMINO,

Plaintiff,

v.

CELLCO PARTNERSHIP d/b/a

VERIZON WIRELESS et al.,

Defendants.

Civ. No. 04-4303

MEMORANDUM/ORDER

This is a dispute over two patents that delineate processes and apparatuses for

preventing telephones from making international calls. John Gammino owns those

patents, and he claims that defendant Davel Corporation regularly infringes them by using

the patented processes on pay telephones that it owns and operates around the country. 

Davel disputes this and moves for summary judgment. Discovery is complete, and

Davel’s motion is now ripe for disposition.

I. Facts

John Gammino owns U.S. Patent Nos. 5,809,125 (filed Sept. 15, 1998) and

5,812,650 (filed Sept. 22, 1998). Both are processes and apparatuses for preventing

telephones from making international calls. Essentially, both involve means of

recognizing and disconnecting phone calls commenced with dialing sequences that

Case 2:04-cv-04303-LP Document 89 Filed 10/04/07 Page 1 of 7
 Davel does not purchase international call blocking in areas of the country in which 1

there is a high demand for international calling.

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typically correspond to international calls. These inventions are useful because telephone

companies in the United States lose money when users fraudulently make international

calls (often using stolen calling card numbers). 

Davel owns and operates pay telephones throughout the country. To make those

phones operate, Davel purchases telephone service from a variety of local providers (who

are not parties to this suit). One of the features of the service that Davel purchases from

some of those local providers is international call blocking. According to Davel’s 1

corporate designee, no one at Davel has any knowledge as to what processes, methods, or

apparatuses the local providers employ to provide the call-blocking features.

Gammino sent Davel a Notice of Infringement in March 2003. Davel, however,

did not change its behavior because it determined that its activities did not ingringe

Gammino’s patents. Gammino now is suing Davel on two theories: (1) direct

infringement of Gammino’s two patents, and (2) inducing the local providers to infringe

those patents. Davel has moved for summary judgment on both theories, arguing that

Gammino has not come forward with evidence to support either.

II. Summary Judgment Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate when “there is no genuine issue as to any

material fact . . . and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R.

Civ. P. 56(c). “[A] party seeking summary judgment always bears the initial

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responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying

those portions of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on

file, together with the affidavits, if any, which it believes demonstrate the absence of a

genuine issue of material fact.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986)

(citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

“If the moving party successfully points to evidence of all of the facts needed to

decide the case on the law short of trial, the non-moving party can defeat summary

judgment if it nonetheless produces or points to evidence in the record that creates a

genuine issue of material fact. The non-moving party cannot rest on mere pleadings or

allegations; rather it must point to actual evidence in the record on which a jury could

decide an issue of fact its way.” El v. Se. Pa. Transp. Auth., 479 F.3d 232, 238 (3d Cir.

2007).

Where, as here, the nonmoving party bears the burden of proof, summary judgment

is appropriate if the moving party demonstrates that the nonmoving party has not come

forward with evidence supporting an essential element of its claim. Celotex, 477 U.S. at

323. In considering the record evidence, however, “the evidence of the non-movant is to

be believed, and all justifiable inferences are to be drawn in its favor.” Anderson v.

Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986). 

III. Direct Infringement

“[W]hoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented

Case 2:04-cv-04303-LP Document 89 Filed 10/04/07 Page 3 of 7
 The patents also include the apparatuses themselves; however, Gammino appears to 2

claim that Davel infringes the patents by using the patented methods, not the patented

apparatuses, as all of the claims to which Davel’s expert refers are method claims. See Pl.’s Br.

in Opposition to Def.’s Motion for Summary Judgment, Ex. 3 ¶¶ 9, 10, 11, 16. Moreover, there

is no evidence in the record that Davel uses the patented apparatuses. Rather, according to

Davel’s designee’s unrebutted testimony, the Davel pay phones do not use the built-in

apparatuses for blocking international calls. Davel’s Mem. in Support of Motion for Summary

Judgment, Ex. 1, at 16 (deposition of Tammy Martin). Instead, Davel buys the call-blocking

feature from local providers and has no knowledge of what apparatuses or methods those

providers use. Id. at 24. Even if it is the case that the local providers use the patented

apparatuses (and no evidence suggests that it is), the long-standing principle expressed in

Keplinger v. De Young, 23 U.S. 358, 365 (1825), works to prevent Davel, the mere purchaser of

a product created by those apparatuses, from being liable for direct infringement. See also

epicRealm Licensing, LLC v. Autoflex Leasing, Inc., 492 F. Supp. 2d 608, 633 (E.D. Tex. 2007)

(applying the Keplinger holding to direct infringement claim). 

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invention, within the United States . . . infringes the patent.” 35 U.S.C. § 271(a). Here,

Gammino alleges that Davel uses the patented inventions by employing them to block

international calls from its pay telephones. The inventions, as defined by the “claims” of

the patent, see Acumed LLC v. Stryker Corp., 483 F.3d 800, 805 (Fed. Cir. 2007), consist

of series of steps that various telecommunications apparatuses can take that will result in

blocking certain international calls. See ’125 Patent col. 12 ln. 39 to col. 14 ln. 30; ’650 2

Patent col. 12 ln. 30–62. 

“Direct infringement requires a party to perform or use each and every step or

element of a claimed method or product. For process patent or method patent claims,

infringement occurs when a party performs all of the steps of the process.” BMC

Resources, Inc. v. Paymentech, L.P., ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 2728400, at *4 (Fed. Cir.

Sept. 20, 2007) (citations omitted). A step in both patented methods is evaluating the

dialing sequence to determine if it is one of the blocked sequences. ’125 Patent col. 12

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lns. 44–54; ’650 Patent col. 12 ln. 41. There is no evidence in the record that Davel

performs that step; rather, the unrebutted testimony of Davel’s designee indicates that the

local providers, if anyone, perform that step. Davel’s Mem. in Support of Motion for

Summary Judgment, Ex. 1, at 24.

“A party cannot avoid infringement, however, simply by contracting out steps of a

patented process to another entity. In those cases, the party in control would be liable for

direct infringement.” BMC Resources, 2007 WL 2728400, at *6. In this case, there is no

evidence that Davel controlled how the local providers went about blocking international

calls; again, the unrebutted testiony indicates that Davel did not even know the providers’

methods. Davel’s Mem. in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment, Ex. 1, at 24.

Gammino’s primary evidence in this case consists of tests that show that Davel’s

pay telephones successfully block calls made using the dialing sequences that Gammino’s

methods block. Even if this evidence is (marginally) probative that someone infringes

Gammino’s patent, it does not support the conclusion that Davel is the infringing party,

particularly in light of the unrebutted evidence that Davel does not know how the callblocking features it purchases work.

Because Gammino has failed to come forward with evidence that Davel either

performs the evaluation step of the patented processes or directs another entity to do so,

his claim for direct infringement cannot survive Davel’s motion for summary judgment.

IV. Inducement To Infringe

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“Whoever actively induces infringement of a patent shall be liable as an infringer.” 

35 U.S.C. § 271(b). Inducement, unlike direct infringement, is a specific intent tort. DSU

Med. Corp. v. JMS Co., 471 F.3d 1293, 1305 (Fed. Cir. 2006). A person only commits it

if it intends for another to infringe the plaintiff’s patent. Id. As stated above, in this case,

there is no evidence that Davel so much as knew the local providers’ methods, much less

intended that the providers employ an infringing one. 

Gammino argues, however, that once it informed Davel of his patents in March

2003, Davel then possessed the requisite intent. But informing Davel of the patents did

not impose on Davel a duty to inquire after the local providers’ methods; it merely put

Davel on notice that Gammino’s patent existed. “[M]ere knowledge of possible

infringement by others does not amount to inducement; specific intent and action to

induce infringement must be proven.” Warner-Lambert Co. v. Apotex Corp., 316 F.3d

1348, 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2003). Even recognizing that direct evidence of intent is generally

not available, id. at 1363, nothing in this record suggests that Davel specifically intended

for the local providers to infringe Gammino’s patents. Rather, the evidence indicates that

Davel merely purchased call-blocking features in the normal course of trade and left it to

the providers of those features to ensure that their methods complied with the patent laws.

Because Gammino has not come forward with evidence supporting his claims that

Davel knowingly induced local telephone service providers to infringe Davel’s patents,

those claims cannot survive summary judgment

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V. Conclusion

AND NOW, this 4th day of October, 2007, it is hereby ORDERED that defendant

Davel Corporation’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED. Judgment is hereby

entered for defendant Davel and against plaintiff Gammino. As there are no remaining

claims in this case, the clerk is directed to mark the case closed. 

BY THE COURT:

/s/ Louis H. Pollak

____________________

Pollak, J.

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