Thursday, March 31, 2011

Opinion of Counsel "Carries Little to No Weight" In Determining Enhanced Ongoing Royalty

Plaintiff's motion for an ongoing royalty for post-judgment sales was granted and the court awarded a rate of $14.50 for each accused sale which was enhanced 33% from the jury's rate of $11 to account for willful infringement. "There was evidence at trial that [defendants] obtained and relied upon an opinion of counsel that they did not infringe the patents-in-suit and that the patents-in-suit were not valid. While this would be relevant to [their] culpability with respect to pre-verdict infringement, it carries little to no weight with respect to ongoing post-judgment infringement now that a jury has found that [defendants] do infringe and has failed to find that any of the asserted claims are invalid."

Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC v. BMW North America, LLC, et. al., 9-08-cv-00164 (TXED March 28, 2011, Order) (Clark, J.)

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