Federal Circuit on determining the prevailing party for Section 285 attorney fees under Octane Fitness

Section 285 of the Patent Act provides that a district “court in exceptional cases may award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party.” The Supreme Court in Octane Fitness v. Icon Health held that an exceptional case “is simply one that stands out from others with respect to the substantive …

Case is not necessarily exceptional where litigation costs exceed the potential damages

ATEN International v. Uniclass was decided on August 6, 2019 on appeal from the Central District of California. The district court granted defendant Uniclass summary judgment on plaintiff ATEN’s lost profits theory of damages. So ATEN “proceeded to trial based on a reasonable royalty theory of damages, under which its …

Willfulness, enhancement, and attorney fees vacated

SRI International v. Cisco was originally decided on March 20, 2019, and modified on July 12, 2019 on appeal from the District of Delaware. In the modified opinion, the Federal Circuit vacated the award of attorney fees, which was based in part on the vacated willfulness finding, and remanded for further consideration …

Royalty affirmed where expert started with a third party settlement and increased the value by 20%

Elbit Systems v. Hughes Network was decided on June 25, 2019 on appeal from the Eastern District of Texas. The jury found that defendant Hughes infringed, and awarded plaintiff Elbit  $21,075,750 in reasonable royalty damages. The district court then denied Hughes post-trial motions for JMOL for non-infringement and for a new trial …

Dismissal under Section 101 and subsequent grant of attorney fees are vacated

CellSpin Soft v. Fitbit was decided on June 25, 2019 on appeal from the Northern District of California. Plaintiff CellSpin filed more than a dozen cases alleging infringement of certain patents. On a motion to dismiss, the district court found that none of the asserted claims were patent eligible. The district court found the …

Liability reversed, mooting issues of damages, willfulness, and attorney fees

Cobalt Boats v. Brunswick is a nonprecedential case decided on May 31, 2019 on appeal from the Eastern District of Virginia. At trial, the jury defendant Brunswick willfully infringed, leading to a royalty award of $2,690,000. After trial, the district court enhanced the damages by a factor of 1.5 and awarded damages …

Case exceptional where Plaintiff did not perform a simple test of the publicly available accused products

ThermoLife v. GNC was decided on May 1, 2019 on appeal from the Southern District of California. Plaintiff ThermoLife brought suit against Defendant GNC, and other defendants, for patent infringement. This was one of 81 infringement lawsuits the exclusive licensee filed. The patents relate to “methods and compositions involving the amino …

A patent litigation remedies profile of the Northern District of California

This post will organize various patent litigation decisions from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (N.D. Cal.). The focus will be on patent infringement remedies, particularly damages and injunctions.   Local Patent Rules   Patent Jury Verdicts: Below are the patent jury verdicts from the …

A patent litigation remedies profile of the Eastern District of Texas

This post will organize various patent litigation decisions from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (E.D. Tex.). The focus will be on patent infringement remedies, particularly damages and injunctions.   Local Patent Rules   Patent Jury Verdicts: Below are the patent jury verdicts from the Eastern …

Liability as to one claim does not support general damages, willfulness finding, enhancement, or attorney fees

Omega Patents v. CalAmp was decided on April 8, 2019 on appeal from the Northern District of Florida. After the jury awarded plaintiff Omega approximately $2.98 million in compensatory damages, the district court trebled damages for willful infringement, awarded attorney’s fees to Omega, awarded damages for sales made subsequent to the jury verdict, …