Opinion ID: 182125
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: New Trial on Infringement Issues

Text: Citing the closeness of the questions presented on JMOL in this case, the district court also granted in the alternative Microsoft's motion for a new trial on infringement. This court's standard of review over a district court's grant of a motion for new trial is governed by regional circuit law. WMS Gaming, Inc. v. Int'l Game Tech., 184 F.3d 1339, 1361 (Fed.Cir.1999). In the First Circuit, a new trial is only appropriate when the outcome is against the clear weight of the evidence such that upholding the verdict will result in a miscarriage of justice. Ramos v. Davis & Geck, Inc., 167 F.3d 727, 731 (1st Cir.1999). In contrast to JMOL, in considering a motion for a new trial, the district court may independently weigh the evidence. Jennings v. Jones, 587 F.3d 430, 436 (1st Cir.2009). [A] district judge cannot displace a jury's verdict merely because he disagrees with it or because a contrary verdict may have been equally supportable. As we have repeatedly observed, trial judges do not sit as thirteenth jurors, empowered to reject any verdict with which they disagree. Id. (internal citation omitted). Nevertheless, the district court is entitled to deference in granting a new trial motion, and the First Circuit only overturns the grant of a new trial if the district court has abused its discretion. Id. at 435 (citing Gasperini v. Ctr. For Humanities, Inc., 518 U.S. 415, 435, 116 S.Ct. 2211, 135 L.Ed.2d 659 (1996)). As the Supreme Court noted, [t]rial judges have the unique opportunity to consider the evidence in the living courtroom context, while appellate judges see only the cold paper record. Gasperini, 518 U.S. at 438, 116 S.Ct. 2211. The district court granted Microsoft's motion for a new trial on the infringement issues in the alternative to its JMOL motion, and did not present any analysis apart from its analysis of the JMOL infringement issues discussed above. This court is convinced that the district court's grant of a new trial on infringement has no more merit than the district court's grant of JMOL on infringement. Though it is a close issue, this is not a situation where the evidence falls within the zone where substantial evidence supports the verdict and the district court's discretion in granting a new trial trumps such evidence. This court thus reverses the district court's grant of a new trial on infringement for the same reasons as it reverses the grant of JMOL of non-infringement.