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Can you be held liable for patent infringement even if you do not practice the patented invention? Can a company that sells a material to the manufacturer of a patented product be held liable? Can a vendor that supplies a component to a service provider that assembles or uses a patented system be held liable? Can a supplier of raw materials to a production plant that runs a patented process be held liable?
Direct infringement of a product patent occurs when someone actually makes, uses, sells, or imports the patented product. Direct infringement of a process patent occurs when someone actually practices the patented process, or imports the product made by the patented process outside of the U.S.
A secondary type of infringement, indirect infringement, comes in two forms - inducement to infringe, and contributory infringement. The patent statute states that someone who actively induces infringement of a patent is liable as an infringer. A contributory infringer is someone who sells, offers to sell, or imports into the U.S. a component of a patented machine or composition, or a material or apparatus for use in practicing a patented process, if certain conditions are met:
* the object constitutes a material part of the patented invention
* the seller or importer knows that the object is especially made for...