United States Federal Circuit

In a suit for infringement of patent directed to a method of optical disc discrimination that enables an optical disc drive (ODD) to automatically identify the type of optical disc (DVD or CD) that is inserted into the ODD, the judgment of the district court is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded where: 1) the district court properly granted a new trial on damages following the first jury verdict; 2) the district court erred in finding that defendant does not have an implied license to assemble and sell laptops using ODDs purchased via Philips and Sony/NEC/Optiarc; 3) district court properly denied defendant's motion for JMOL of non-infringement; 4) district court's jury instruction does not alone warrant a new trial on liability; 5) district court erred by setting the hypothetical negotiation date; 6) district court erred in admitting a settlement agreement into evidence; and 7) district court erred in permitting a witness to offer his opinion concerning a 6% per ODD running royalty rate based on ODD average price as a proper measure of reasonable royalty damages in the second trial.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/30/2012
• Published 08/30/2012

Judges

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel