When All You Have is the Price for Many (Patents) It is rare for all patents included in portfolio license or sale agreements to have equal value. In a patent infringement case, the individual values of the patents are needed. So, when only a small subset of patents are at issue, how can we estimate their worth? This article provides insight as to how value can be adduced. It is rare for all patents included in portfolio license or sale agreements to have equal value. When only a small subset of patents are at issue, how can we estimate their…
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Apple is rushing to release an iOS update in China to resolve potential infringement of Qualcomm patents. The news follows a report stating that a Chinese sales ban of certain iPhone models would cost Apple millions of dollars a day. To read the full article in Cult of Mac, click: Apple Hopes iOS Update Will Help Overturn Costly iPhone Sales Ban in China.
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On Patent Damages and Apportionment In two recent cases, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit provided important guidance when applying apportionment principles to calculate reasonable royalty damages. See Finjan, Inc. v. Blue Coat Systems, Inc., 879 F.3d 1299 (Fed. Cir. 2018); Exmark Mfg. Co. v. Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group, LLC, 879 F.3d 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2018). The Federal Circuit signaled greater flexibility when apportioning damages, which may permit using the royalty rate and not just the royalty base, to value a patented invention’s contribution to a larger, multicomponent product. The Circuit also reaffirmed, however, that…
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Case Law Four cases are presented in this article that provide valuation, litigation support professionals, and M&A advisors insight regarding how courts are addressing damages claims, challenges to experts, appraisal action challenges, and claims of fraud and breach of contract in connection with M&A transactions. Although the cases are from Delaware and California, they provide insight for readers to use in their practices.
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Applications for patents in the U.S. have nearly tripled over the past 20 years. Perhaps increased innovation, more cutthroat competitive practices, and an uptick in litigious activity surrounding idea ownership are to credit. One thing that is clear is that there are many implications of filing a patent beyond just its ability to enforce exclusivity of an idea—for founders and investors alike. To read the full article in Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog, click: The Valuation Implications of Filing (or Not) a Patent. This article is republished from Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Blog. It is reprinted with permission. To subscribe…
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Correlating Patent Values with Prior Citations What is forward patent citation? Why is it relevant? In this article, the author answers the above questions and details how these may be relevant to a damages expert in a patent infringement matter. These experts may need to ascertain the value attributable to the patented technology at issue. While comparable license agreements may serve useful in providing a market-based approach to arriving at a value, the damages expert must also seek to apportion out the comparable patents related to the patented technology within the comparable license agreements from that of the intellectual property…
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IP Valuation—Beyond the Income and Cost Approach Valuation analysts (“analysts”) are often asked to value debtor company intellectual property (IP) within a business bankruptcy context. Some of the bankruptcy reasons to value IP include the assessment of the following: the debtor’s solvency, a secured creditor’s collateral and protection, the fairness of a Section 363 IP asset sale or license, the debtor’s rejection of its IP licenses (and the implications of that rejection on the IP licensees) under Bankruptcy Code Section 365(n), and the reasonableness of a plan of reorganization. Many analysts immediately think of applying income approach or cost approach…
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When the usual approaches won’t work Technology and innovation expert and professor, Tim Swift, proposes an alternative to the traditional Market, Income, and Cost approaches to valuing a patent portfolio.
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Patent damages require thorough analysis and attention to detail This federal case update highlights patent cases where reports or testimony from damages experts were excluded and affirmed. Regardless of outcome, these cases have a similar theme; it appears that some damage experts should perform a more thorough analysis and pay more attention to detail than they currently do.
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Judge Cuts Apple Award Versus Samsung, Sets New Damages Trial Poornima Gupta and Erin Smith report at Reuters report that Apple Inc had a major setback in its mobile patents battle with Samsung Electronics. On Friday, March 1st, a federal judge slashed a $1.05 billion jury award by more than 40 percent and set a new trial to determine damages. Here’s more:
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Tighter Regulations Leave Less Room for Error When Computing and Disclosing How Much Mortgages Cost. John Adams at American Banker reports that Ernst Publishing, not related to the accounting company, sells technology and closing cost data to mortgage market players. Its clients include nine of the largest ten originators and servicers and the largest five title insurance companies. And it has now received a U.S. patent for its recording fee and tax calculator, called “System and Method for Generating and Tracking Field Values of Mortgage Forms.” Read the whole thing here. More:
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Marvell Technology Group Sold Billions of Semiconductors Developed at Carnegie Mellon University Jad Mouawad reports in the New York Times that Carnegie Mellon University said it was awarded $1.17 billion by a federal jury in Pittsburgh on Wednesday in a unanimous verdict that found the Marvell Technology Group had sold billions of semiconductors using technology developed at the university without a license.
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Zach Epstein shares the scoop at BGR: Samsung has accused Apple of calling expert witnesses that exhibit “slavish adoration” to the company during an ongoing patent trial between the two consumer electronics giants. As noted by patent expert Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, court documents filed by Samsung in California seek to exclude testimony made by a number of Apple’s expert witnesses on the grounds that they were biased. “Apple’s damages expert, Terry L. Musika, writes in his report that ‘Apple has built a considerable and at times a cult-like following to all things Apple,’ ” Samsung’s attorneys wrote in a court filing, according…