Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/550/437/dissent.html
Timestamp: 2017-03-01 18:17:53
Document Index: 357159444

Matched Legal Cases: ['§271', '§271', '§271', '§271', '§271', '§271']

Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp. (Dissent by Justice Stevens) :: 550 U.S. 437 (2007) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
As the Court acknowledges, “[p]lausible arguments can be made for and against extending §271(f) to the conduct charged in this case as infringing AT&T’s patent.” Ante, at 2. Strong policy considerations, buttressed by the presumption against the application of domestic patent law in foreign markets, support Microsoft Corporation’s position. I am, however, persuaded that an affirmance
of the Court of Appeals’ judgment is more faithful to
the intent of the Congress that enacted §271(f) than a reversal.
The provision was a response to our decision in Deepsouth Packing Co. v. Laitram Corp., 406 U. S. 518 (1972), holding that a patent on a shrimp deveining machine had not been infringed by the export of components for assembly abroad. Paragraph (1) of §271(f) would have been sufficient on its own to overrule Deepsouth,* but it is paragraph (2) that best supports AT&T’s position here. It provides:
I disagree with the Court’s suggestion that because software is analogous to an abstract set of instructions, it cannot be regarded as a “component” within the meaning of §271(f). See ante, at 9–10. Whether attached or detached from any medium, software plainly satisfies the dictionary definition of that word. See ante, at 9, n. 11 (observing that “ ‘[c]omponent’ is commonly defined as ‘a constituent part,’ ‘element,’ or ‘ingredient’ ”). And unlike a blueprint that merely instructs a user how to do something, software actually causes infringing conduct to occur. It is more like a roller that causes a player piano to produce sound than sheet music that tells a pianist what to do. Moreover, it is surely not “a staple article or commodity of commerce suitable for substantial noninfringing use” as that term is used in §271(f)(2). On the contrary, its sole intended use is an infringing use.
* “Whoever without authority supplies or causes to be supplied in or from the United States all or a substantial portion of the components of a patented invention, where such components are uncombined in whole or in part, in such manner as to actively induce the combination of such components outside of the United States in a manner that would infringe the patent if such combination occurred within the United States, shall be liable as an infringer.” 35 U. S. C. §271(f)(1).