Federal Circuit Affirms Royalty, Denial of Fees
— 2018-05-09does not call for a new trial on damages. ALE did not ask for a new trial on damages based on our adoption of its construction of “adapted.” . . . And a new trial on damages is not warranted on that basis. Chrimar’s technical expert Dr. Vijay Madisetti testified that all four patents “cover the PSE [power sourcing equipment] and the PD [power device] aspects of classification, detection, and controlling the power,” J.A. 5892—a proposition that ALE agrees with on appeal, ALE Br. 8. Dr. Madisetti also testified that the smallest saleable patent-practicing units are ALE’s power sourcing equipment, which infringe the ’760 and ’838 patents, and ALE’s power devices, which infringe the ’012, ’107, and ’760 patents, J.A. 5921—a proposition ALE does not dispute on appeal. Given the (affirmed) judgment of infringement of the ’107 and ’760 patents, the absence of an infringement judgment on the ’012 patent is immaterial to damages because any damages that would result from the alleged infringement of the ’012 patent also results from the infringement of the ’107 and ’760 patents” (pp. 16-17).
Chrimar’s argument relies chiefly on the ground that ALE pressed a large number of defenses and counterclaims for years, only to drop most of them (e.g., concerning antitrust, inequitable conduct, and some invalidity grounds) late in the litigation, even during trial. Chrimar does not meaningfully show that those dropped claims were objectively meritless. It focuses on the contention that ALE never truly intended to try them.
The district court did not abuse its discretion in making what here was a case-specific judgment that it was distinctively well-positioned to make. The court denied summary judgment as to a number of the claims ALE later dropped, allowing them to proceed. And the court determined that ALE’s litigation decisions fell within the range of ordinary practices involving the narrowing of claims for trial (pp. 25-26).