A Brief Comment on the Damages Provisions in the Patent Reform Act of 2009

12 March 2009
By Dr. Alan Cox, and Bryan Ray, et al.

In March 2009, proposed legislation was introduced (as the Patent Reform Act of 2009) in the United States Senate and House of Representatives that, among other things, intends to enforce by statute the manner in which damages are to be calculated in patent infringement lawsuits. In this brief comment on the proposed legislation, NERA experts argue that this proposed legislation would not improve the standard for calculating damages. The authors previously published a paper in November 2007 that provides a discussion on the patent reform legislation then being considered by Congress. The issues and concerns they raised in 2007 are still pertinent and are summarized here.