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In a case that has been closely followed by businesses with an interest in patents, a unanimous Supreme Court held 3/3/97 that there continues to be a "doctrine of equivalents" in patent law, under which a product or process that does not quite literally infringe the claims of a patent may nonetheless be found to infringe if "the accused product or process contain[s] elements identical or equivalent to each element of the patented invention." The Court's opinion also discussed the critical role of patent prosecution history, and the less-critical role played by the intent of the infringer, in determining infringement by equivalents.