26
OPINION LETTERS, REPRESENTATION
ISSUES, AND THE IMPACT OF THE
SEAGATE AND KNORR-BREMSE
DECISIONS
Joshua D. Curry
Jennifer Lowndes
Ian Wasser
Malvern (“Griff”) U. Griffin III
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
If you find this article helpful, you can learn more about the subject by going
to www.pli.edu to view the on demand program or segment for which it
was written.
215
216
3
Table of Contents
I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 5
II. BACKGROUND ........................................................................................... 5
A. Awarding Enhanced Damages in Patent Infringement Cases ......5
B. Willful Infringement and the Now-Overruled Duty of Care
Standard ........................................................................................6
1. Response to the Duty of Care Standard and Rise of
Negative Inference of Willful Infringement ................................8
2. Problems Resulting from the Duty of Care Standard................ 8
C. Reversing the Negative Inference of Willful Infringement .............9
D. Privilege Waiver Issues Related to the Duty of Care
Standard ......................................................................................10
E. Seagate Raises the Bar for Proving Willful Infringement and
Clarifies When Reliance on the Opinion of Counsel Will
Waive Privilege............................................................................ 11
1. Replacing the Duty of Care Standard with an Objective
Recklessness Standard...........................................................12
2. Refining the Scope of Attorney-Client and Work Product
Waiver .....................................................................................13
3. Damages Cannot be Enhanced Without a Finding of
Willfulness ...............................................................................14
III. IMPACT OF SEAGATE ON LITIGATION PRACTICE................................ 14
A. Pleading Willful Infringement....................................................... 14
B. Selected Post-Seagate Trends in Willful-Infringement Cases ....15
1. Legitimate Defenses to Infringement Can Foreclose a
Willful Infringement Finding .....................................................16
2. A Significant Narrowing the Patentee’s Infringement Case
Can Foreclose a Finding of Willful Infringement .....................17
3. Legitimate Defenses to Validity Can Foreclose a Willful
Infringement Finding................................................................18
4. A Hotly Contested Claim Construction Dispute Can
Foreclose a Finding of Willful Infringement............................. 19
5. Prompt Redesign Efforts by the Accused Infringer Can
Foreclose a Willful Infringement Finding .................................20
6. PTO Action Granting Reexamination of an Asserted
Patent May Also Foreclose a Willful Infringement Finding......21
7. Willfulness Has Been a Summary-Judgment Issue More
Often Under the Seagate Test ................................................22
8. Courts Have Also Reversed Jury Findings of Willful
Infringement after the Verdict Based on Seagate’s
Objective Recklessness Test ..................................................24
217
