Federal Circuit Patent Updates - December 2014

December 22, 2014 6:15 PM

Taranto, J. Vacating royalty award, non-willfulness finding, and denial of enhanced damages and attorney's fees and remanding. Regarding damages, "[i]f a potential user of the patented technology would expect to earn X profits in the future without using the patented technology, and X + Y profits by using the patented technology, it would seem, as a prima facie matter, economically irrational to pay more than Y as a royalty—paying more would produce a loss compared to forgoing use of the patented technology... [T]he district court did not err in considering [defendant's] profits. But it did err in treating the profits [defendant] actually earned during the period of infringement as a royalty cap. That treatment incorrectly replaces the hypothetical inquiry into what the parties would have anticipated, looking