Source: https://bannerwitcoff.com/ip-alert-halo-electronics-inc-v-pulse-electronics-inc-and-stryker-corp-v-zimmer-inc-u-s-supreme-court-rejects-federal-circuits-framework-for-enhanced-damages-under-%C2%A7/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 14:31:22+00:00

Document:
HALO ELECTRONICS, INC. V. PULSE ELECTRONICS, INC. AND STRYKER CORP.
Both Halo and Stryker challenged the Federal Circuit’s Seagate standard following jury trials in which a jury found willful infringement. In Halo, the district court declined to award enhanced damages under § 284. The district court found that Pulse presented a not objectively baseless trial defense and, therefore, Halo failed to establish the objectively recklessness under the first step of Seagate.
In Stryker, the district court awarded enhanced damages and trebled the amount of damages. The Federal Circuit vacated the award of treble damages because it concluded that Zimmer had asserted reasonable defenses at trial.
Next, the Supreme Court found the Seagate requirement of clear and convincing evidence to prove recklessness “inconsistent with § 284.”13 Again, the Supreme Court cited its Octane Fitness decision as instructive. In Octane Fitness, the Supreme Court reversed a clear and convincing evidentiary burden that the Federal Circuit had required for attorneys’ fees under § 285 because the statute did not set a heightened standard and “patent-infringement has always been governed by the preponderance of the evidence standard.”14 Thus, the preponderance of evidence standard now applies to enhanced damages under § 284.
§ 284 will be reviewed by the Federal Circuit for abuse of discretion.
1Seymour v. McCormick, 16 How. 480, 488 (1854).
2Aro Mfg. Co. v. Convertible Top Replacement Co., 377 U.S. 476, 508 (1964).
4Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Assoc., Inc. 776 F.3d 837, 844 (Fed. Cir. 2015).
5Seagate, 497 F. 3d, at 1371.
6See Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. v. W. L. Gore & Assoc., Inc., 682 F. 3d 1003, 1005, 1008 (Fed. Cir. 2012); Spectralytics, Inc. v. Cordis Corp., 649 F. 3d 1336, 1347 (Fed. Cir .2011).
7Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc., Case No. 14-1513, __ U.S. ___, (2016) (slip op. at 8).
8Octane Fitness LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness Inc., 572 U.S. __ (2014) (slip op. at 7).
9Halo, __ U.S. ___, (2016) (slip op. at 9).
11Id., slip op. at 10.
12Id., slip op. at 11.
13Id., slip op. at 12.
15Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Management System, Inc. 572 U.S. __ (2014) (slip op. at 1).
16Halo, __ U.S. ___, (2016) (slip op. at 12-13).
17Id., slip op. at 13.
18Justices Kennedy and Alito joined the concurring opinion.
19Halo, __ U.S. ___, (2016) (concurring slip op. at 2)(emphasis in original).

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