The Israeli Court recently issued an important judgment that broadens the scope of what constitutes patent infringement. In this judgement, the Rav-Bariach (C.A. 1636/98 Rav Bariach v. Havshush Car Accessories trading House Ltd.; 23 July 2001, not yet reported), the Supreme Court introduced, by way of judicial legislation, the concept of Contributory Infringement to the Israeli Patent laws.
The Appellant, Rav Bariach, was the proprietor of a patent that claimed an arrangement for prevention of car theft that includes a certain combination of elements. The system consisted of three parts: (i) a rigid bar secured to the body of the car in the vicinity of (and parallel to) the gearshift stick; (ii) a padlock body fixedly mounted onto the bar; (iii) a padlock yoke adapted to be locked to the padlock body, thereby enclosing the gearshift. Defendant imported and marketed in Israel the padlock body and the padlock yoke, but not the rigid bar. However, the padlock was adapted so as to enable
