Evolving SEP Jurisprudence And RAND Determinations In Microsoft v. Motorola

Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a pivotal decision in Microsoft v. Motorola regarding the licensing of standard essential patents (SEPs) on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms. Mintz Levin attorneys Richard G. Gervase, Jr., Bruce D. Sokler, Sandra J. Badin, and Michael T. Renaud critically assess the Ninth Circuit's decision in Mintz Levin's Intellectual Property Alert titled Ninth Circuit Upholds Judge Robart's RAND Determinations in Microsoft v. Motorola. The Court endorsed the lower court's methodology for determining the RAND rate, including its determination of the relevance of patent pools to SEP licenses. In so doing, the Court discussed the evidence necessary to determine whether particular RAND commitments have been breached and the proper measure of damages of such breaches. Based on its review of the record evidence, the Court upheld the jury's finding that Motorola breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing when it