Willful infringement and enhanced damages Avoiding willful infringement is important because a court has the discretion to increase damages up to three times and award attorney’s fees if the patent is willfully infringed  Exculpatory opinions of counsel regarding non infringement of a patent reduce the likelihood that a defendant would be found liable for willfully [...]

Development of new product lines Businesses track new products and developments of their competitors.  They attend trade shows, receive information from mutual clients about new products offered by others. In response, companies may attempt to introduce a competitive alternative.  In doing so, they may reverse engineer (i.e., purchase and take apart) their competitors products.  When [...]

Under Underwater Devices Inc. v. Morrison-Knudsen Co., 717 F.2d 1380 (Fed. Cir. 1983), when a potential infringer has actual notice of another’s patent, the potential infringer had an affirmative duty to exercise due care to determine whether or not he is infringing. In In re Seagate Technology LLC, 83 USPQ2d 1865 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (en [...]