Lennon Comments on a Recent Supreme Court Decision in Law360

Young Conaway attorney, Jim Lennon, ​was among the lawyers across the country who commented in Law360 on the high court's ruling that the Federal Circuit's standards for awarding attorneys' fees to prevailing parties in "unreasonable" patent infringement cases must be eased:

Jim Lennon, Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP
“Awarding fees under [Section] 285 isn't a new tool for judges and I would say while the high court’s decision lowers the bar to an exceptional case finding under 285, I wouldn't expect to see much increase in the number of findings of exceptional case, at least not in districts with considerable experience in patent litigation like Delaware. That said, I expect patent litigants to see this as an encouragement to assert 285 claims more often, as was more common pre-Therasense. The Supreme Court attempts to clarify what ‘exceptional case’ means under the statute, explaining: ‘an “exceptional” case is simply one that stands out from others with respect to the substantive strength of a party’s litigating position (considering both the governing law and the facts of the case) or the unreasonable manner in which the case was litigated.’ Delaware judges have a wealth of experience and thus perspective concerning patent litigation, which should mean only the truly ‘rare’ case will stand out and meet this standard.”

A copy of the complete Law360 article is AVAILABLE HERE.