Patent Damages: Working with Limits
12 Pages Posted: 8 Dec 2017 Last revised: 13 Dec 2017
Date Written: December 1, 2017
Abstract
Patent damages have frequently lain at the center of recent debates over the patent system and its reform. Points of tension reflect the often uncomfortably restrictive limits against which the patent system naturally strains.
These limits include:
(1) limits to theoretical agreement on substantive goals and implementing methodologies;
(2) limits to the information available to apply theory correctly even if theoretical agreement is assumed;
(3) limits to the abilities of courts and other decision-makers to assess liability or monetary awards properly based on whatever facts and theories apply; and
(4) limits on the territorial and subject-matter reach of patent law that can lead to questionable gaps in coverage or discontinuities in results.
This symposium foreword introduces a series of papers that explore such limits and suggest multiple ways by which patent damages and their effects might be better tailored to societal ends.
Keywords: patent damages, reasonable royalty, remedies, interpleader, patent licensing, restitution, enhanced damages, indemnification, extraterritorial damages, baseball arbitration
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