United States
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit | [1] Case No.: 04-1475, 04-1512 [2] Case Name: UNION CARBIDE CHEMICALS & PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY CORP., ET AL. V. SHELL OIL COMPANY, ET AL. |
Denial of combined petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc. 
| The Federal Circuit refused to rehear the previous Union Carbide v. Shell Oil decision, which held that Section 271(f) applied to method / process inventions. Three judges dissented from the order denying rehearing en banc. The dissent argued that the court had wrongly applied the statute, which discusses supplying "components of a patented invention ... in such manner as to actively induce the combination of such components outside of the United States.” The dissent argued that the supply of "components" did not apply to process inventions: “A component of a process is a step in the process; it is not the physical material to be used in the process. What the panel opinion here holds is that supplying a component to be used in one of the process steps can create infringement. That is … an incorrect … extension of the statutory language.” |