INTELLECTUAL  PROPERTY

Competition Economics' professionals combine their comprehensive understanding of economic and market principles, with the specific competitive and licensing environment of each case, to provide clients with detailed and thorough analyses of intellectual property matters. Expertise and experience enable us to take a broad perspective on the range of issues that arise in matters involving patent infringement, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, false and misleading advertising, and unfair competition.

We work closely with our clients to address research and consulting needs through all phases of intellectual property litigation from discovery to trial. We also consult with clients to address valuation, license structure, and strategy issues for negotiations of license agreements.
 
Areas of Expertise

Assessment of Economic Damages:

• Reasonable royalty damages (including the evaluation of non-infringing alternatives and licensing history of the parties and the relevant industry)
• Lost profits (including lost unit sales, price erosion, margin erosion, and the implications of accelerated market entry)
• Unjust enrichment
• Future damages
• Prejudgment interest

Economic Evaluation of Non-Infringing Alternatives

Evaluation of Licensing Programs

Valuation of IP Assets

Negotiation of Patent Licenses

Intervening Rights

Patent Misuse
 

Representative Cases

Mass Engineered Design, Inc. v. Ergotron Inc., et al.
On behalf of co-defendant Dell, Inc., our expert provided trial testimony addressing patent damages for plaintiff’s admitted infringement of counter-plaintiff Dell’s patent. In addition, our testimony included a critique of plaintiff's expert's evaluation of lost profits and a reasonable royalty claimed to apply to Dell's sales of co-defendant's product which was found to infringe plaintiff's patent. Both patents related to multi-screen computer monitor systems.

Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. v. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and Panasonic Corporation of North America
Through the preparation of nine expert reports and providing expert deposition testimony, we addressed damages for alleged infringement of 19 patents in two lawsuits related to certain plasma display panel and plasma TV technologies owned by plaintiff and counter-plaintiff. Our analysis included an evaluation of comparable licenses and industry cross license practices. Our reports addressed reasonable royalty damages and a critique of opposing expert’s damages assertions. The case settled with both companies cross-licensing their respective technology.

Orion IP, LLC v. Toyota
Our expert was asked by counsel to assess damages and prepare an expert report on behalf of co-defendant Toyota Motor Sales. This case related to patented technologies associated with online sales methods and web-based parts management systems. Our expert critiqued plaintiff’s damages assertions and presented an assessment of reasonable royalties.

LG Electronics, Inc. v. Q-Lity Computer, Inc., et al.
On behalf of co-defendant Quanta Computer, we responded to plaintiff’s patent damages analysis, including damages related to the exhaustion issues ultimately addressed by the Supreme Court in Quanta v. LG. The expert reports and deposition testimony pertained to reasonable royalties and licensing practices associated with personal computer chipset and web conference software technologies alleged to be included in Wintel PCs.

Electro Scientific Industries v. General Scanning
This patent infringement matter involved semiconductor yield improvement systems. Our analysis of lost profits, price erosion, and reasonable royalty led to expert testimony on behalf of the plaintiff at a jury trial, where ESI was awarded damages in excess of $13 million.