Akamai v. Limelight Update

Senniger Powers Attorney Ben Hodges Analyzes Recent Developments in Akamai v. Limelight.

The Federal Circuit continued its recent jurisprudence on joint infringement with the recent decision in Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc. The Federal Circuit expanded on its recent holdings that joint infringement may only be found when one party “directs or controls” the other party in the infringing activity by stating that the relationship required will be either an agency relationship or a contractual obligation. The Court found that while Limelight performed most of the steps of the patent, its customers performed the final step. Limelight’s customer contract does not require the customer perform the step, rather it gives detailed instructions on how to perform the step and “explains that the customer will have to perform the steps if it decides to take advantage of Limelight’s service.” Though it would seem inevitable that any customer would take advantage of the service, this still did not amount to agency or an obligation to use the service. The Court also again instructed that proper claim drafting would negate this issue so as to capture infringement in a single party.