Apportionment of Royalty Base Appropriate for Process Claims​

The court denied plaintiff's motion to exclude the testimony of defendant's damages expert regarding apportionment of the royalty base as unreliable and rejected plaintiff's argument that apportionment was inappropriate for process claims. "To the extent [plaintiff] argues [the expert's] opinions are unreliable because the asserted claims cover 'an entire process' rather than a multi-component product such that 'the EMVR, and the related line of cases' do not apply, such an argument misunderstands that apportionment is a fundamental concept in patent damages that is not limited to the EMVR context. This is because a 'key inquiry' in the reasonable royalty analysis 'is what it would have been worth to the [infringer], as it saw things at the time, to obtain the authority to use the patented technology, considering the benefits it would expect to receive from using the technology and the alternatives it might have pursued.'. . . [Plaintiff] cites no authority in support of its argument that apportionment of the royalty base is inappropriate where process claims, rather than multi-component product claims, are concerned."

Kaneka Corporation v. Zhejiang Medicine Co., Ltd. et al, 2-11-cv-02389 (CACD February 22, 2017, Order) (Otero, USDJ)