Halo Does Not Disturb Jury Finding of Willfulness​

Following a jury trial, the court denied defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law that they did not willfully infringe plaintiff's patents in light of the Supreme Court's intervening decision in Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., 136 S. Ct. 1923 (2016). "[T]he jury found that [plaintiff] had proven by clear and convincing evidence that Defendants willfully infringed the asserted claims. . . . [A]fter the jury returned a verdict, but before final judgment, the Supreme Court determined that the Federal Circuit’s two-part test for enhanced damages was inconsistent with 35 U.S.C. § 284, repealing [In re Seagate Technology, LLC, 497 F.3d 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2007)]. . . . By returning a verdict of willful infringement, the jury found that Defendants acted 'recklessly' . . . and that they 'actually knew or should have known that [their] actions constituted an unjustifiably high risk of infringement of a valid patent.'. . . Because the jury’s finding was made under the higher clear and convincing standard, the Court upholds the verdict and moves to the next stage of the enhancement inquiry."

NobelBiz, Inc. v. Global Connect, LLC, 6-12-cv-00244 (TXED October 27, 2016, Order) (Schroeder, USDJ)