The Federal Circuit recently issued a decision in Provisur Technologies, Inc. v. Weber, Inc., No. 23-1438 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 2, 2024), partially reversing a $10.5 million jury verdict in a patent infringement case involving food processing machinery. This decision marks the latest chapter in an ongoing legal battle between the two food processing equipment manufacturers. The case has a complex procedural history, including parallel inter partes review (IPR) that is now on petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
This October decision covers some of the ground that the court may address in the upcoming en banc rehearing of EcoFactor v. Google, offering some foreshadowing of likely outcomes. Here, the court strongly sided with the accused infringer in requiring particularized apportionment related evidence before allowing a patentee to use the entire market value of a product as the royalty base. In EcoFactor, the court will similarly focus on the evidentiary standard required of expert testimony on damages apportionment. Provisur was authored by Chief Judge Moore, one of the most 'pro patentee' judges -- signaling that patent owners are unlikely to smile when they read the EcoFactor decision.
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