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Centillion Data Systems, LLC v. Qwest Communications International, Inc.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

631 F.3d 1279, 97 U.S.P.Q.2d 1697 (2011)

Facts

Centillion Data Systems, LLC (Centillion) (plaintiff) owned United States Patent No. 5,287,270 (the 270 patent), which disclosed a system of transmitting information from a service provider to a customer. Claim 1 of the 270 patent included a back-end and front-end system. The back-end system was controlled by the service provider, and the front-end system was controlled by a user. Centillion filed a patent-infringement action in federal court, accusing several billing systems maintained by Qwest Communications International, Inc. (Qwest) (defendant) of infringing the 270 patent. Qwest’s billing products included Qwest’s back-end office system and a front-end client program operated by a customer. The back-end system passively created monthly billing statements for subscribed users, and customers could enter specific requests for statements covering particular date ranges. Selecting an on-demand report caused the back-end system to process the request and provide a result for the customer to download. Qwest provided technical assistance with the billing systems but did not direct its customers to take any particular actions. Both Qwest and Centillion filed motions for summary judgment. The district court granted Qwest’s motion for summary judgment of noninfringement. Centillion appealed.

Rule of Law

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Holding and Reasoning (Moore, J.)

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