An Eventful Year, with More of the Same to Come

During the past year, there were many rulings in appellate courts that changed the legal patent landscape. In one such ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit changed common patent damages calculation canon for a licensee's opening reasonable royalty offer to a patent holder during a hypothetical negotiation, the so-called 25% rule. The unanimous panel in Uniloc USA Inc. v. Microsoft Corp. on January 4, 2011 “basically [set] forth additional guidelines in terms of what is appropriate and inappropriate in a damages case," said Finnegan partner Donald R. Dunner, Uniloc’s appellate attorney in this matter.