Patent lawyers fight for months over experts and jury instructions, then hand the jury a verdict form with one blank line for damages. In a new Law360 article, Brandon Theiss argues that this should change, pointing to two recent Federal Circuit rulings, Ollnova Technologies v. Ecobee Technologies and Jiaxing Super Lighting v. CH Lighting, where vague verdict forms unraveled on appeal.
His fix, borrowed from baseball arbitration: each side submits one damages number it can defend, and the jury has to pick one, no averaging or splitting the difference. Brandon also addresses the strongest objection to the idea, Bayer HealthCare v. Baxalta, by proposing the format as an opt-in tool rather than a new default rule.
Read the full article on Law360, or download the PDF here.