A jury in the Southern District of Florida found that Samsung infringed Prisua’s asserted patent claims and owed $4.3 million for that infringement.  Prior to that verdict, Judge Moore issued opinions and orders on cross Daubert motions, as well as multiple motions in limine.

Of interest is that neither of the Daubert motions – on Prisua’s expert or Samsung’s expert – were granted; however, a critical motion in limine was.

Prisua moved to exclude Samsung’s damages expert, Mr. Lettiere, based upon his use of information that: 1) post-dated the hypothetical negotiation, 2) pertained to litigation settlements, 3) relied upon software licensing agreements, and 4) used the market-based approach.  Citing Lucent and Sinclaire Refinery, Judge Moore denied #1. The judge declined to grant #2 based upon citations from Cornell, but reserved judgment. With regard to #3, Judge Moore observed, “The Court is persuaded that the ArcSoft Licensing Agreements—which directly relate to the allegedly infringing technology—are relevant and the probative value of Mr. Lettiere’s related testimony outweighs the risk of prejudice.” Finally, with regard to #4, the market-based approach was permitted to stand.

Samsung moved to exclude Mr. Leathers’ damages analysis because he relied upon Prisua’s pre-litigation offer to Samsung to license its patents.  While such basis for exclusion appears compelling, Judge Moore refused to exclude via Daubert the implied pre-litigation benchmark rate.

In a motion in limine, however, Samsung successfully argued exclusion of the licensing negotiations between Prisua and Samsung:

From Samsung’s JMOL on damages, it appears that Mr. Leathers advanced the $0.09 royalty rate, but represented that the rate was derived using the ArcSoft Licensing Agreement.  We will see whether Judge Moore finds this testimony (and the implied disregard of the pre-litigation offer) compelling, or whether instead he will grant the JMOL offered by Samsung.