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Wis. Alumni Research Found. v. Apple, Inc.

Wis. Alumni Research Found. v. Apple, Inc.

United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin

June 6, 2017, Decided; June 6, 2017, Filed

14-cv-062-wmc

Opinion

 [*906]  OPINION AND ORDER

In this opinion and order, the court addresses a slew of post-trial motions. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation ("WARF") and awarded damages in the [**2]  amount of $234 million. Invoking Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 50(b) and 59(e), defendant Apple, Inc., challenges virtually every aspect of the jury's verdicts, and myriad decisions made both before and during the trial by the court. (Dkt. #677.) For the reasons that follow, the court will deny that motion in its entirety. WARF also moves under Rule 59(e) to alter the court's grant of judgment in Apple's favor on plaintiff's willful infringement claim. Applying the new standard articulated by the United States Supreme Court in Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse  [*907]  Electronics, Inc., 136 S. Ct. 1923, 195 L. Ed. 2d 278 (2016), the court again concludes that WARF has failed to meet its burden of demonstrating willful infringement. Accordingly, that motion will also be denied.

The remaining motions are all WARF's: for equitable relief (dkt. #683); for an accounting, supplemental damages through the date of judgment, and pre- and post-judgment interest (dkt. #685); and for taxation of costs (dkt. ##689, 725). For the reasons that follow, the court will award an ongoing royalty rate of $2.74 per unit from the date of judgment, October 25, 2015. The court will also award supplemental damages at the per unit royalty rate awarded by the jury from June 27, 2015, to October 25, 2015.1 The court will also award pre-judgment interest at the [**3]  prime rate, compounded quarterly, and will award post-judgment interest at the statutory rate, compounded annually. The calculations for supplemental damages and pre-judgment interest will await further submissions by the parties. Finally, the court will award WARF costs in the total amount of $841,587.66.

BACKGROUND

OPINION

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261 F. Supp. 3d 900 *; 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86418 **; 2017 WL 2438832

WISCONSIN ALUMNI RESEARCH FOUNDATION, Plaintiff, v. APPLE, INC., Defendant.

Subsequent History: Reversed by Wis. Alumni Research Found. v. Apple Inc., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 27664 (Fed. Cir., Sept. 28, 2018)

Prior History: Wis. Alumni Research Found. v. Apple Inc., 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174024 (W.D. Wis., Dec. 17, 2014)

CORE TERMS

infringement, patent, costs, damages, ongoing, royalty, willful, supplemental, challenges, reply, negotiation, argues, royalty rate, instructions, mis-speculation, post-judgment, injunction, licenses, award damages, per unit, contends, chips, copying, agrees, Load, permanent injunction, prejudgment interest, jury's finding, new trial, manufacture