Opinion ID: 211242
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Foreign Infringement

Text: 57 Vaughan makes one final argument with respect to infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(f) by six tanks located outside of the United States. It argues that under § 271(f) there was insufficient evidence that it intended for the foreign purchasers to infringe the '414 patent. Pursuant to § 271(f)(1), a party may be an infringer if it 58 supplies . . . 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. . . 59 A finding of inducement requires both an underlying instance of direct infringement and a requisite showing of intent. Fuji Photo Film Co., 394 F.3d at 1377. Here, although Vaughan contends that the requisite intent showing is missing, [a] patentee may prove intent through circumstantial evidence. Id. 60 Accordingly, LD identifies evidence in the record that Vaughan knew of the '414 patent after its first sale to Augusta. Moreover, Vaughan's hiring of Behnke, a former L.D employee with knowledge of the patented design, and Dorsch's statements indicating that Vaughan was relying on nozzle orientations from Behnke, support the proposition that Vaughan intended for its Augusta design to infringe the claims of the '414 patent. Furthermore, Vaughan's engineering manual was sent to its customers and is replete with examples that are similar to the Augusta designs. This constitutes circumstantial evidence that Vaughan intended for its subsequent buyers, including foreign buyers, to install systems that infringe the claims of the '414 patent. Vaughan argues that the engineering manual itself expresses an intent to mix by rotation, such that Vaughan's dissemination of the manual did not intend its customers to create the infringing helical flow. Vaughan's arguments ask us to reweigh the evidence, a task reserved for the jury, not this court. See Teleflex, Inc. v. Ficosa N. Am. Corp., 299 F.3d 1313, 1335 (Fed.Cir.2002). Thus, we hold that there is substantial evidence to support the jury's verdict under § 271(f).