Over the last several years, the Federal Circuit has increasingly scrutinized patent litigants’ reliance on “comparable licenses” as a means for calculating a reasonable royalty, including whether the license needs to be...more
On March 24, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) issued an opinion affirming a district court’s judgement of infringement while vacating and remanding the district court’s damages...more
The United States patent system is designed to be a balance: in exchange for the inventor disclosing their invention to the public, pa-tentees are granted exclusive rights to that invention for a period of time. This ensures...more
EcoFactor, Inc. v. Google LLC, Appeal No. 2023-1101 (Fed. Cir. June 3, 2024) In the Federal Circuit’s only precedential patent opinion this week, the court addressed issues of infringement and admissibility that arose...more
We recently reported on the European Commission’s leaked draft regulations concerning the fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing of standard essential patents (SEPs). Since the publication of that piece, we...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court decision correcting a clerical error in a claim. Pavo Solutions LLC v. Kingston Technology Company, Inc., Case Nos. 21-1834 (Fed. Cir. June 3, 2022)...more
In patent litigation, the adequacy of proof of apportionment in reasonable royalty damage claims is often a challenging issue that is hotly contested by the parties. The Federal Circuit has recently focused on the use of...more
APPLE INC. V. WI-LAN INC. Before Moore, Chief Judge, Bryson, and Prost. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Summary: Construing a broad claim term to be re-defined as...more
Examining whether portfolio patent licenses can be sufficiently comparable to a single-patent license for the purposes of supporting a patent damages verdict, a split panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit...more
Omega Patents, LLC, v. CalAmp Corp., Appeal Nos. 2020-1793, -1794, (Fed. Cir. Sept. 14, 2021) - In its only precedential patent case this week, the Federal Circuit sent a case back for a third trial on the issue of...more
On August 26, in MCL Intellectual Property, LLC v. Micron Technology, Inc., the Federal Circuit affirmed exclusion of an expert opinion regarding a reasonable royalty, holding that the district court did not abuse its...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to preclude a damage expert from characterizing license agreements and opining on a reasonable royalty rate where the sponsoring party...more
MLC Intellectual Property, LLC v. Micron Technology, Inc., Appeal No. 2020-1413 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 26, 2021) - For those interested in an important Section 112 written description case, we recommend reading the Juno...more
In Vectura, the Federal Circuit recently reiterated that the entire market value of an accused multicomponent product may serve as the royalty base if the patent damages analysis is built on sufficiently comparable licenses....more
Rejecting a defendant’s request for a new trial on a variety of grounds, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a damages award and explained that apportionment was unnecessary because a sufficiently...more
On April 22, 2020, the Federal Circuit "grappled," as the opinion put it, with the equitable doctrine of assignor estoppel in Hologic, Inc. v. Minerva Surgical, Inc., the Federal Circuit "grappled," as the opinion put it,...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendants’ motion for a new trial on damages, finding that the jury verdict on damages was based on...more
On January 3, 2019, following a jury’s award of $145 million in damages to Wi-LAN, the Southern District of California granted Apple’s motion for a conditional order of remittitur to a $10 million damages award. In granting...more
Assessing Damages in Patent Litigation - Patent Damages - • Damages for infringement shall be “adequate to compensate for the infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the...more
Improperly Drafted Employment Agreement Leads to Dismissal of Patent Case Due to Lack of Standing - In Advanced Video Technologies LLC v. HTC Corporation et al., Appeal Nos. 2016-2309, 2016-2310, 2016-2311, the Federal...more
Finding that rulings on validity from re-examination proceedings are not dispositive of validity in a district court proceeding, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated summary judgment of no invalidity as...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reinforced its guidance on infringement damages, remanding in part a jury’s award for further consideration of the proper apportionment. Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat Systems, Inc.,...more
On January 12, 2018 in Exmark Manufacturing Co. Inc., v. Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group, LLC, the Federal Circuit once again addressed the issue of apportioning damages, an area of the law that continues to evolve....more
The Federal Circuit’s damages apportionment jurisprudence is an ever-evolving area of the law. On January 10, 2018, a three judge panel of the Federal Circuit revisited the issue in connection with a patent covering a method...more
Federal Circuit Summaries - Before Wallach, Chen, and Stoll. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. Summary: Reexaminations of patents confirming validity are not dispositive of...more