The Patent Act permits a court to award damages to a successful plaintiff in an amount up to three times the actual damages suffered plus the plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees. These “enhanced damages” under Section 284 of the Act have been part of U.S. patent law since its inception, but the standard for awarding them has shifted over time. Enhanced damages were originally mandatory, but Congress later ordained a discretionary award in the belief that a defendant who acted out of ignorance of the law or with a good faith belief that no infringement was occurring should not punished in the same manner as a “wanton and malicious pirate.”
In re Seagate Technology, LLC (2007) announced the Federal Circuit’s strict two-prong test for patentees seeking enhanced damages. The first prong required the patentee to “show by clear and convincing evidence that the infringer acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of a valid patent.” If the infringer made a reasonable invalidity or non-infringement argument during the litigation, the patentee could not meet this “objective” prong. If the objective prong was met, the second Seagate prong required the patentee to show (also by clear and convincing evidence) that the risk of infringement “was either known or so obvious that it should have been known to the accused infringer.”
In 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases—Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc. and Stryker Corp. v. Zimmer Inc.—in order to decide if the Seagate test was consistent with the language of § 284. Earlier this month, the court disapproved the Seagate approach, giving renewed leverage to patentees who sue for infringement. (More...)
In re Seagate Technology, LLC (2007) announced the Federal Circuit’s strict two-prong test for patentees seeking enhanced damages. The first prong required the patentee to “show by clear and convincing evidence that the infringer acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of a valid patent.” If the infringer made a reasonable invalidity or non-infringement argument during the litigation, the patentee could not meet this “objective” prong. If the objective prong was met, the second Seagate prong required the patentee to show (also by clear and convincing evidence) that the risk of infringement “was either known or so obvious that it should have been known to the accused infringer.”
In 2015, the Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases—Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc. and Stryker Corp. v. Zimmer Inc.—in order to decide if the Seagate test was consistent with the language of § 284. Earlier this month, the court disapproved the Seagate approach, giving renewed leverage to patentees who sue for infringement. (More...)
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