A jury just awarded Illumina damages of $15.7 million for the infringement of the ‘794 patent and $11 million for infringement of the ‘430 patent.
Prior to the jury verdict, defendant Ariosa submitted a Daubert motion on plaintiff damages expert that was denied; and also submitted a JMOL on damages (in part) that was not granted. One critical issue is that the JMOL alleges Mr. Malackowski violated the law of demand when he asserted that accused products sold by the defendant at a lower price would have been sold, in his but-for world, at a higher price. The motion states:
The final judgment will be an interesting read. Ariosa’s JMOL on lost profits damages is compelling. Interestingly, the jury verdict form did not allow for a breakdown of a damages award between lost profits and reasonable royalty amounts. There was only one line for the jury to write in its damages award (in words and in numbers), but there was no area to specify the type of royalty or the amount of lost profits. It is unclear whether such an ambiguous form will impact Judge Illston’s post-trial rulings.