As part of the recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit took steps to return to normal operations. It began requiring live oral arguments in August 2022 and, by November,...more
On January 23, 2020, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a scathing decision that has garnered much attention. (Baez-Sanchez v. Barr, No. 19-1642 (7th Cir. 2020). It was not the merits of the...more
On October 24, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit after an en banc rehearing in Sunearth, Inc. v. Sun Earth Solar Power Co., LTD., adopted the Octane Fitness standard for determining whether a case is...more
On October 24, 2016, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, held that district courts analyzing a request for attorney fees under the Lanham Act should consider the totality of the circumstances, as set forth in...more
Supreme Court Abolished Federal Circuit's Test for Willfulness - On June 13, 2016, in Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., 579 U.S. ___ (2016), the Supreme Court unanimously abrogated the Federal Circuit’s...more
Several recent court decisions in patent infringement actions reflect the significant impact of the Supreme Court's ruling in Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., which dramatically altered the landscape for...more
The Patent Act provides that, in a case of infringement, courts “may increase the damages up to three times the amount found or assessed.” Previously, in order to recover enhanced damages under the Patent Act, a patent owner...more
On June 13, 2016, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in two consolidated cases (Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics and Stryker Corp. v. Zimmer) effectively lowering the standard for obtaining enhanced damages in...more
On June 13, 2016, in Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., 579 U.S. ___ (2016), the Supreme Court unanimously abrogated the Federal Circuit’s 2007 decision in In re Seagate Tech., LLC, 497 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir....more
In recent years, the Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected the Federal Circuit’s strict tests concerning monetary relief in patent cases in favor of more fluid standards that commit discretion to the district courts. In...more
Patent infringers take note: clever defenses by ingenious litigation counsel may come too late to save you from an award of exemplary damages. On Monday, June 13, in Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics and Stryker Corp. v....more
The Supreme Court has made it easier for patent owners to prove willful infringement and entitlement to enhanced damages. In a unanimous opinion issued yesterday in a pair of cases decided together, Halo Electronics, Inc. v....more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated, combined decision in Halo v. Pulse Electronics and Stryker v. Zimmer, relaxing the standard for awarding enhanced damages in patent litigation under 35 U.S.C. §...more
In a unanimous decision yesterday, the Supreme Court eliminated the requirement that patentees must show that an infringer was objectively reckless in order to obtain enhanced patent damages. The decision returned to the...more
On June 13, 2016, the Supreme Court eliminated the rigid test for enhanced damages that the Federal Circuit had erected in In re Seagate Technology LLC. The Supreme Court held that, under 35 U.S.C. 284, district courts have...more
On June 13, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States set forth a new standard for awarding enhanced damages in patent infringement cases by striking down the Federal Circuit’s en banc Seagate framework as an “artificial...more
In Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., the Supreme Court issued a longawaited opinion dramatically altering the standard Federal Courts use for determining whether to increase patent infringement damages under...more
Unlike Cher, the U.S. Supreme Court can turn back time. In Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics, the Court unanimously upended the law on enhanced damages for willful patent infringement set forth in by the Federal Circuit...more
On Monday, June 13, a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States made it easier for patent holders to receive damages from infringers. In the case of Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., Docket No....more
On June 13, 2016, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Halo v. Pulse, overturning the Federal Circuit’s long-standing two-step test for willfulness and enhanced damages in patent-infringement cases. The Court’s ruling...more