Wednesday, December 8, 2010

All 3G "Licenses-Out and Cross-Licenses" Deemed Discoverable as Potentially Relevant to Industry Practice and Valuation

Plaintiff's motion to compel "Nokia to produce all licensing agreements covering wireless products that comply with third generation ('3G') telecommunication standards known as CDMA and WCDMA" was granted. "[Defendant's] licenses-out and cross-licenses provide information about how the telecommunications industry values CDMA and WCDMA technology and the licensing customs of the industry. While these licenses may be extensive, involve multiple parties and hundreds of patents that make it difficult for an expert to attribute value to the small number of patents-in-suit, that is an argument that goes to the weight that a damages expert may give to a particular license agreement, not whether or not a license agreement is relevant or should be produced."

SPH America, LLC v. Acer, Inc., et. al., 3-09-cv-02535 (CASD December 3, 2010, Order) (Battaglia, M.J.)

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