Patent Damages on Tap as Full Federal Circuit Hears Google Case

The nation’s highest patent court will rehear a case Thursday asking it to restrict the kinds of evidence expert witnesses can describe to juries while litigants argue over patent-infringement damages.

The issue is before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a rare en banc rehearing of Google LLC‘s appeal of its loss in smart-thermostat patent owner EcoFactor Inc.'s infringement suit. EcoFactor’s damages expert told jurors in Waco, Texas, about settlement deals the company reached in other suits over the patents, and Google’s appeal turns on non-binding language used to calculate the royalty rate he said ...