Supreme Court Sides With Limelight in Patent Fight

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to make it easier to hold companies liable for encouraging others to commit patent infringement.

The high court's decision came in a patent fight between Internet services companies Akamai Technologies Inc. and Limelight Networks Inc. Akamai filed a lawsuit in 2006 alleging Limelight copied its technology for helping website owners manage their online traffic more efficiently.

A divided U.S. appeals court ruled Akamai could proceed with claims that Limelight encouraged customers to infringe the Akamai patent.

The Supreme Court reversed that ruling in a unanimous opinion that sided with Limelight. The court, in an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, said a company can't be held liable for encouraging patent infringement unless some single party performs every step in the patent.

Justice Alito said a specialized appeals court that ruled for Akamai "fundamentally misunderstands what it means to infringe a method patent."

Several leading technology companies including Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Oracle Corp., had supported Limelight in the case, saying a win for Akamai could have opened the door to new patent infringement lawsuits and escalated litigation costs.

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