Calculating Reasonable Royalties

Patent attorneys often express frustration over various holdings of the Federal Circuit.  This has certainly been true of decisions of the court in the area of damages and reasonable royalties.  It was interesting to hear Chief Judge Michel’s own frustration with some of the court’s holdings in the recent oral argument of Lucent Technologies v. Gateway.  You can listen to Chief Judge Michel’s comments [Here] and [Here]. 

There was a lighter moment in the oral argument when Chief Judge Michel asked counsel for Lucent  if the court should grant judgment in favor of Lucent if the panel deemed that Lucent’s expert had provided sufficient testimony on damages  — counsel for Lucent agreed that would be proper.  However, when Chief Judge Michel asked counsel for Lucent  if the court should grant judgment in favor of Microsoft if the panel deemed that Lucent’s expert had not provided sufficient testimony on damages, counsel for Lucent offered that perhaps a remand to the district court might be another choice.   [Listen]

The panel extended the oral argument to 70 minutes for this case — more than double the normal 30 minutes — and was quite complimentary of the argument conducted by Constantine Trela on behalf of Microsoft and John Desmarais on behalf of Lucent [Listen].

You can download or listen to the oral argument [Here].

You can read the court’s opinion [Here].

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