Western Digital (WD) managed a significant legal victory by reducing its patent infringement liability from $553 million to a mere $1 after a California jury initially ruled against it. Following its conviction of infringing SPEX Technologies' data encryption patent, WD contended the damages amounted to insufficient evidence as the plaintiff's claims altered during the trial. District Judge James Selna upheld the infringement ruling but recognized that the evolving theories prevented a reasonable royalty calculation, resulting in the symbolic $1 judgment while denying WD's request for a new trial on damages.
Western Digital successfully reduced its liability in a patent case from $553 million to $1 due to changes in the plaintiff's claims during the trial.
Judge Selna noted that the plaintiff's theory of damage changed throughout the lawsuit, leading to insufficient evidence to determine a reasonable royalty.
The court established that damages should be symbolic in cases where plaintiffs fail to sufficiently link monetary amounts to their infringement claims.
Despite Western Digital being found liable for patent infringement, the ruling demonstrated that the specifics of damages can be significantly affected by trial dynamics.
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