Opinion ID: 706108
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Willful Infringement as a Prerequisite for Damages

Text: 12 The court also erred in instructing the jury that it had to find willful infringement before awarding damages. 2 Where two parties are in direct competition, the defendant's profits attributable to the infringement--the amount the jury was instructed to determine in this case--are a measure of the plaintiff's damages under the theory of unjust enrichment. See Lindy Pen Co. v. Bic Pen Corp., 982 F.2d 1400, 1407 (9th Cir.1993). Because a plaintiff can recover such damages even if the infringement was not willful, it was error to instruct the jury not to consider damages absent willful infringement. See id. at 1406-09 (analyzing defendant's profits as a measure of damages even after determining the infringement was not willful).