Google’s Appeal Might Complicate Calculating Patent Damages

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision to grant a rehearing en banc to decide Google’s appeal against a $20 million patent damages award given to EcoFactor could make it more difficult for patent holders to establish damages based on comparable licenses. McCarter Partner Michael Sartori spoke with IAM Media on possible ramifications if the Federal Circuit decides to impose restrictions on how patent damages are calculated. “By limiting how damages are calculated, the ability of patent owners to obtain enormous dollar amounts in damages may be substantially diminished,” Michael said. “This may have a chilling effect on third-party patent litigation financing since the potential return-on-investment for a litigation funder will not be significant enough to risk the capital required to fund the patent litigation.”