Chris Bakewell Provides Expert Testimony in Precedent-Setting Case Regarding the Value of Standard Essential Patents

Managing Director Chris Bakewell provided expert testimony during a four-day bench trial on damages in the Eastern District of Texas. The district court’s initial damages award was appealed, and subsequently vacated and remanded by the appellate court. In the appellate opinion, authored by Chief Judge Prost, the court provided important guidance regarding the value of patent rights which was consistent with Mr. Bakewell’s damages analysis.  

Among other things, the appellate court clarified that a reasonable royalty for any standard-essential patent (SEP) should measure the value of the patented invention and “must not include any value flowing to the patent from the standard’s adoption.” Jorge L. Contreras, an associate professor at the University of Utah College of Law, explained that this case has “significant implications, particularly given the increasing acquisition and assertion of SEPs by patent assertion entities.”

To prepare for his expert testimony, Mr. Bakewell assembled a team from within the Duff & Phelps Intellectual Property Disputes practice which included Directors Sheri Rock and Raji Seshan.

The decision is Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation v. Cisco Systems, Inc., 2015-1066 (Federal Circuit December 3, 2015), an appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas case in Commonwealth Scientific v. Cisco Systems, Inc., 6:11-cv-343-LED