Informatica Corp. v. Business Objects Data Integration, Inc.

489 F. Supp. 2d 1075, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36668, 2007 WL 1456153
District Court, N.D. California·Decided May 16, 2007·No. C 02-03378 EDL·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION FOR TREBLE DAMAGES, ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND PREJUDGMENT INTEREST, AND SETTING HEARING ON POST-TRIAL MOTIONS

LAPORTE, United States Magistrate Judge.

This patent infringement action came before the Court for trial by jury on March 12, 2007. Following the close of evidence, argument of counsel, and the Court’s instructions, the case was submitted to the jury on March 29, 2007. On April 2, 2007, after one and one-half days of deliberation, the jury returned a unanimous verdict for Plaintiff Informática Corporation, finding that Defendant Business Objects Data Integration, Inc. (“BODI”), indirectly infringed claims 1, 8, 12, 15, and 18 of the '670 Patent, and claims 5, 7, and 11 of the '775 Patent, and that the claims are not invalid for anticipation, statutory bar or obviousness. The jury further found that BODI’s infringement was willful.

The jury awarded reasonable royalty damages in the amount of $25,240,000. On the special verdict form, the jury attributed $2,524,000, or 10% of the damages award, to BODI’s act of supplying or causing to be supplied in or from the United States all or a substantial portion of the components of a patented invention, in such a manner as to actively induce the combination of such components outside of the United States in a manner that would infringe any of the claims at issue if such combination had occurred within the United States. See 35 U.S.C. § 271(f).

Informatica’s motion for treble damages, attorneys’ fees and prejudgment interest against BODI came on for hearing before this Court on May 8, 2007. Both parties were represented by their respective counsel. Having considered the evidence of record, the verdict of the jury, and the briefs and argument of counsel on Infor-matica’s motion and on the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Microsoft v. AT&T, — U.S. -, 127 S.Ct. 1746, 167 L.Ed.2d 737 (2007), the Court concludes that Informática has demonstrated that a modest enhancement of damages is appropriate, and that the specific amount of enhanced damages will be determined upon post-trial motions. The Court further concludes that Informática is not entitled to attorneys’ fees, and that prejudgment interest is appropriate.

*1079 I. MICROSOFT v. AT & T

Section 271(f)(1) provides as follows:

Whoever without authority supplies or causes to be supplied in or from the United States all or a substantial portion of the components of a patented invention, where such components are uncombined in whole or in part, in such manner as to actively induce the combination of such components outside of the United States in a manner that would infringe the patent if such combination occurred within the United States, shall be liable as an infringer. 1

35 U.S.C. § 271(f)(1). At trial, BODI agreed that under existing law, Section 271(f) imposed liability on method claims for foreign sales, -with the understanding that the Supreme Court might decide the issue differently in its upcoming Microsoft decision. Trial. Tr. at 921:25-922:20, 925:1-5.

Informática submitted evidence at trial in the form of a verified discovery response regarding how BODI supplies the software at issue to its foreign customers:

At present, Business Objects cuts and validates a master CD for its products in San Jose. The master CD is sent for duplication to a third party contractor in Ireland, MPO. MPO ships these CDs to another third party contractor in Ireland, Moduslink, which packages the product and ships it directly to end users. Prior to MPO setting up operations in Ireland, Business Objects sent the master CDs to MPO in Paris for duplication and distribution occurred from there. Prior to its acquisition by Business Objects, ACTA cut and validated its master CDs in the San Jose area. All shipments of ACTA product originated from there.
Business Objects also makes downloads of its products available over the internet using a service offered by Intraware. Business Objects uploads product and upgrades in San Jose that customers can download anywhere.

Trial Ex. 452 at 3 (Response to Second 30(b)(6) Deposition Notice Topic No. 6).

At trial, Informatica’s expert on damages, Dr. O’Brien opined that a reasonable royalty should be based on a flat fee per license and that about $28.4 million out of total reasonable royalties of $42.9 million, or 66%, resulted from foreign sales. Trial Tr. at 1011:24-1012:12. BODI’s expert, Mr. Meyer, calculated damages instead based on a royalty of 1% of domestic and foreign sales, with foreign sales of approximately $84 million out of $161 million, or about 52% of total sales. Trial Tr. at 1732:24-1733:10. The jury found that only $2,524,000, or 10% of the damages, were based on foreign sales. Verdict Form, Ques. No. 10 (docket no. 660).

After the verdict was entered, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Microsoft. The Supreme Court held that software, uncoupled from a medium, did not constitute a component supplied from the U.S. for combination with the patented invention, a speech-processing computer, under Section 271(f). Microsoft, 127 S.Ct. at 1755. In Microsoft, AT & T sued for infringement of its patent on an apparatus for digitally encoding and compressing recorded speech. Microsoft conceded that its Windows operating system incorporates software code that, when installed, enables a computer to process speech in the manner claimed by the patent. 127 S.Ct. at 1750. The Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment of in *1080 fringement. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on the question of whether “Microsoft’s liability extends to computers made in another country when loaded with Windows software copied abroad from a master disk or electronic transmission dispatched by Microsoft from the United States.” Id. at 1750-51. The Supreme Court found that the master disk or electronic transmission that Microsoft sends from the United States is never installed on any of the foreign-made computers in question, but rather that copies made abroad are used for installation. Id. at 1751. The Supreme Court held that “[b]e-cause Microsoft does not export from the United States the copies actually installed, it does not ‘supply from the United States’ ‘components’ of the relevant computers, and therefore is not liable under § 271(f) as currently written.” Id.

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Informatica Corp. v. Business Objects Data Integration, Inc., 489 F. Supp. 2d 1075, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36668, 2007 WL 1456153 (N.D. Cal. 2007).

489 F. Supp. 2d 1075 (Informatica Corp. v. Business Objects Data Integration, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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