Court Doubles Damages Award Against Briggs and Stratton for Willful Infringement
Contributed by Knobbe Martens. Originally published on Patexia; republished here as part of the LexDana archive.
A Nebraska court upheld a jury’s reasonable royalty award of more than $14 million for infringement of Exmark’s patent relating to lawnmower baffles. An appellate court had vacated a previous jury award and remanded the case for a new damages trial. In addition to upholding the jury’s award, the court doubled that award due to Briggs and Stratton’s willful infringement. The court also added nearly $6 million in prejudgment interest. The court had previously calculated interest using the U.S. Treasury rate. The court reconsidered that ruling and conceded that such a low rate would unfairly punish Exmark. Thus, the court recalculated interest using the prime rate for the time after Exmark filed the lawsuit.
More insights
Structuring Solar IP Claims for Leverage: How System Claims and Induced or Contributory Infringement Can Expand Enforcement Options
Written by: Tyler S. Cox Key Takeaways: Nextpower’s mix of apparatus and system claims illustrates how claim strategy can expand enforcement flexibility. Additionally, carefully drafting patent claims can expand the scope of protection of the claim…
Patexia Insight 256: Patent Litigation Remains Concentrated in Key U.S. District Courts
U.S. District Court patent litigation continues to be one of the most consequential and data-rich arenas in intellectual property enforcement. Between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2025, 18,352 patent cases were filed across federal courts, involving tens of…
Litigation Finance Tax Dropped From Trump S Big Beautiful Bill
In a major development for the billion dollar litigation finance industry, a tax provision targeting litigation funders has been removed from President Trump’s sweeping tax and spending legislation, dubbed the “Big, Beautiful Bill”,…