The court granted defendant's motion for a new trial on damages or for remittitur because the jury’s $57 million award was based on the entire market value rule and plaintiff failed to offer evidence that its patented disc-discrimination technology drove demand for personal computers. Plaintiff was given ten days to accept a remitted award of $6.2 million or face a new trial on damages. "The failure to offer any evidence that a disc-discrimination method patent drove the demand for the much larger finished good precludes application of the entire market value rule. At best, [plaintiff's expert] testified that almost all computers sold in the retail market include optical disc drives and that customers would be hesitant to purchase computers without an optical disc drive. This evidence notwithstanding, there was no evidence from which the jury could conclude that the patented features of the invention formed the basis for the customer’s demand for the entire computer. Further, the undisputed evidence is that an optical disc drive could be and were sold both as integrated units and separately."
LaserDynamics, Inc. v. Quanta Storage America, Inc. et al., 2-06-cv-00348 (TXED June 9, 2010, Memorandum Opinion & Order) (Ward, J.)
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