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In US patent row between Google, EcoFactor, gatekeepers get a bigger yard

By Melissa Ritti ( May 22, 2025, 17:10 GMT | Comment) -- Google secured a new patent damages trial yesterday from a divided, en banc US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which drilled down on the gatekeeping function of US judges. Because what is “reasonable” is in the eye of the beholder, any dispute involving reasonable royalty damages will necessarily involve some degree of approximation, the majority conceded. But in the case below — where a damages expert for EcoFactor selected a royalty rate they found untethered to the facts — the “imprecision” was not unavoidable. A dissent warned that the opinion, while narrow, could be open to misinterpretation by trial courts. While that remains to be seen, litigants can mitigate that risk today by relying on patent damage opinions that arrive at their valuation in more ways than one.By a vote of 8-2, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit yesterday awarded Google a new trial on damages it owes EcoFactor for infringing a smart thermostat patent....

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