The Clearing House Association filed with the U.S. Supreme Court an amicus brief in Global-Tech Appliances, Inc., and Pentalpha Enterprises, Ltd., v. SEB S.A., Inc., a patent-infringement case that will review the level of knowledge of a patent that must be shown to establish a claim for inducement of infringement. SIFMA signed on to TCH’s brief, which supports the petitioners’ position that not merely deliberate indifference to a known risk but actual knowledge should be the standard. In a May 31 Supreme Court opinion, the majority rejected the Federal Circuit's intent standard, which was that a patent owner needed to show only that the alleged inducer of infringement “deliberately disregarded a known risk that [the patentee] had a protective patent.” The Court adopted a new standard, in which induced infringement “requires knowledge that the induced acts constitute patent infringement” and specifically requires knowledge of the patent. While rejecting the Federal Circuit’s “deliberate indifference to a known risk” test for constructive knowledge of the patent, the Court held that a showing of willful blindness is sufficient to meet the knowledge requirement. The decision heightens the intent requirement for induced-infringement liability by explicitly precluding liability based on lower standards of “deliberate indifference,” recklessness or negligence.

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