United States Federal Circuit

In a patent infringement action involving screws used in spinal surgeries, district court judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part where the court: 1) properly denied defendant's ensnarement defense, as the combination of the two reference patents did not render the hypothetical claim obvious; 2) correctly denied defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law on lost profits of patented screws, and thus properly awarded plaintiff lost-profits damages; 3) improperly awarded lost-profit damages on the unpatented pull-through products, as the products did not compete or function with the patented invention; 4) properly denied plaintiff's motion for a new trial on the issue of reasonable-royalty damages as the plaintiff failed to timely object to the jury's inconsistent award; 5) properly granted defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law of no willfulness in the infringement; and 6) erred in its exceptionality finding, and thus also in the imposition of attorney's fees and sanctions against defendant for litigation misconduct.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/01/2009
• Published 06/01/2009

Judges

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel