Intellectual Property Liability of Consumers, Facilitators and Intermediaries:The Case of Patents

Intellectual Property Liability of Consumers, Facilitators and Intermediaries:The Case of Patents
Christopher Heath

ISBN 978-90-411-4126-2
2012 Kluwer Law International BV, The Netherlands

Problems related to the liability of consumers and intermediaries for patent infringement are far less pronounced than for trademark or copyright infringements. As the industrial right par excellence, consumers themselves cannot be held liable for patent infringement, and nothing has been suggested to change this position. Consumers act in their private capacity and even though they may engage in acts of frequent use, they do not act commercially. While a coffee bar may infringe if they use third party coffee pads without consent of the patentee or re-fillers of toner cartridges may infringe if their acts interfere with patents over the cartridge, consumers cannot be held liable if they perform the same acts at home.