Strawman. I didn’t say they were awarded damages. I said the case was not dismissed on the basis that they were merely a customer, and no patent case ever has been. I also cited numerous other cases filed by two plaintiffs, and provided a link to an academic paper that lists many many more such cases.
Here’s
another paper that discusses, in depth, patent lawsuits against “end users” like you and me:
In fact, there is, in patent law, a doctrine called the “customer suit exception.” It means that, for example, if someone sued YOU for using an iPhone, Apple could intervene, and the suit against you would be stayed (delayed) until the suit involving apple is decided. The rationale behind this is that Apple is in a better position to defend the suit than you, and if it wins, then you are off the hook anyway. However, if Apple loses, guess what - you are still on the hook, the lawsuit against you resumes, and you can prove your innocence if you can.
The existence of this doctrine is only necessary precisely because lawsuits against end users are perfectly legitimate.
By the way, since you don’t seem to understand how precedent works, here’s a case where the court found that the customer could infringe merely by operating the allegedly infringing product:
JoeScan, Inc. v. LMI Techs., Inc., No. C07-5323, 2007 WL 2572296. Here’s another:
Zemel Bros. v. Dewey Elecs. Corp., 218 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 722, 724 (N.D.N.Y. 1982). Another case where a court let a suit against customers go ahead:
Privasys, Inc. v. Visa Int’l , No. C 07-03257 SI, 2007 WL 3461761 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 14, 2007)
There are doubtless hundreds of such cases.
