Damages Expert Excluded For Overreaching Royalty Base

The court granted defendant's motion to exclude plaintiff's damages expert because of his improper royalty base analysis. "[Plaintiff] highlights the iPhone and iPad as the smallest saleable unit available for consideration. But throughout this litigation, [plaintiff] has taken the position that the entire infringing functionality lies in the baseband processor, not the accused product as a whole. . . . Even if the accused products were the smallest saleable unit, this court has previously explained that, under the Circuit’s case law, relying on the smallest saleable unit does not relieve a patentee of the burden of apportioning the base. . . . [T]he smallest salable unit must be closely tied to the patent to suffice. . . . [The Federal Circuit] conclud[ed] that if the smallest salable unit was in fact the entire computer, 'the exceedingly difficult and error-prone task of discerning the [infringing feature's] value relative to all other components in the laptop remains.”

Golden Bridge Technology Inc. v. Apple Inc. et al, 5-12-cv-04882 (CAND May 18, 2014, Order) (Grewal, M.J.)