Patent owners will more likely seek enhanced damages; accused infringers no longer insulated by “attorney’s ingenuity” after the fact.

Summary -

The Federal Circuit’s 2007 Seagate decision raised the bar for patentees seeking enhanced damages for patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 284 by imposing a two-step test, requiring satisfaction of both an objective and a subjective prong. The test imposed the standard of clear and convincing evidence for each of the two prongs.