Political Quotes

“Yes, the Senator is correct. I thank her for her hard work in putting together the gatekeeper damages language with Senator Specter and myself in committee last Congress. It was instrumental in helping to move this bill forward. However, as the Senator from California recognizes, the courts have advanced the law regarding damages since then. For example, in Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., decided just this year, the Federal Circuit held that expert testimony regarding a ``rule of thumb'' for allocating profits between a patent user and a patent owner did not meet the Daubert test for expert testimony, and was inadmissible. And in Lucent Technologies Corp. v. Gateway, Inc., the Federal Circuit found that no rational jury could have concluded a ``tiny feature of one part of a much larger software program with numerous features . . . appear[ing] to account for the overwhelming majority of consumer demand'' was worth an 8% royalty. This represented a new, greater level of review for jury damages assessment. In light of cases like these, it no longer appears necessary for this bill to contain language regarding the assessment of damages.”