[3] In the late 1980s, respondent SEB, S.A., a French maker of home appliances, invented an innovative deep fryer, the external surfaces of which remain cool-to-the-touch during operation.

To fulfill the request, Pentalpha purchased an SEB fryer in Hong Kong which lacked the U.S. patent notices and copied all but its cosmetic features.

[4] Second, SEB claimed that Pentalpha had induced Sunbeam, Fingerhut, and Montgomery Ward to infringe upon the patent, contravening §271(b).

[5] Pentalpha then filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Federal Circuit with the Supreme Court on June 23, 2010.

[1] The case was argued before the Supreme Court on February 22, 2011, with former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz appearing for the French société anonyme.

[6] In an 8–1 decision delivered by Justice Alito, in which Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan joined, the court held:[1] In Kennedy's dissenting opinion, he agreed with the Court that to contravene §271(b), the inducer must know that "the induced acts constitute patent infringement".