Bracewell partner Conor Civins told Law360 that if the Federal Circuit overturns the ruling in EcoFactor’s $20 million infringement award against Google, experts will need to “do more nitty-gritty analysis” to justify royalty rates taken from other agreements and to justify why they’re comparable when calculating damages.
If the EcoFactor decision is reversed, Civins said that patent owners drafting future license agreements will likely keep this case in mind when trying to get the highest royalty rate they can, particularly if it will be held up as a comparable license in future litigation.
“I can imagine plaintiffs trying to ensure that they inject a little bit more of showing their own work in their license agreements so that those agreements hold up under scrutiny,” Civins said.
