The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that divided
infringement did not occur where claimed data processing was
performed by a third party at defendant's request, and that
lost profit damages can be established by proof of "general
market demand for patented invention." Georgetown Rail
Equip. Co. v. Holland L.P., Case No. 16-2297 (Fed. Cir., Aug.
1, 2017) (Wallach, J).
Georgetown and Holland both offer services and technologies that
perform automated inspection of railroad tracks. Georgetown sued
Holland for patent infringement in 2013. Georgetown's patent
claims a "system for inspecting a railroad track bed,
including the railroad track, to be mounted on a vehicle for
movement along the railroad track" that comprises (1)
specific data collection equipment to collect images of the track,
and (2) a processor to process and analyze the collected
data.
