The contributory infringement patent has been in place for over 130 years and was designed to protect inventors from losing control of and profits from the product sprung from their mind.
Without the contributory infringement patent, inventors would not be able to successfully take legal action against manufacturers or corporations hijacking elements of the invention without consequence.
The legal elements of a contributory infringement patent set forth three criteria that would allow the inventor to take action against another party accused of stealing the invention: sale of a patented invention, sale of a patented invention without consent or credit given to the inventor, and cognizance of the fact that the invention is not one's own. The third type of infringement, in the view of the courts, tends to be more difficult to prove.
Judges sometimes rule against those who have created an invention with multi-faceted use, called "staples of commerce." These are items that are considered to possess substantial non-infringing use. Since some inventions have multiple uses apart from the one intended by the inventor, manufacture by another party would not be deemed contributory infringement.
The contributory infringement patent was drafted in the nineteenth century, at a time when many could not have foreseen the arduousness of keeping track of infringement during the digital age. The patent law has received various addendums in the fight against pirated software. Even web hosts or blog posters can be considered contributory infringers by simply posting access codes that permit unauthorized users to copy the software.