The Return Of Patent Opinion Letters

By Matthew Werber, SpencePC (January 13, 2017, 1:38 PM EST) -- Roughly six months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down Halo Electronics Inc. v. Pulse Electronics Inc., 136 S. Ct. 1923 (2016), which, in a nod to patent plaintiffs, loosened what the unanimous court called "unduly rigid" barriers to a finding of willful infringement and enhanced damages (up to three times) under 35 U.S.C. § 284. Since then, courts have handed down a string of decisions shedding light on Halo's impact. These post-Halo decisions reveal two trends: (1) plaintiffs are aggressively pursuing willfulness allegations more frequently than before; and (2) defendants are more incentivized to seek and rely on timely advice on noninfringement/invalidity from counsel (also known as opinion letters)....

Law360 is on it, so you are, too.

A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions.


A Law360 subscription includes features such as

  • Daily newsletters
  • Expert analysis
  • Mobile app
  • Advanced search
  • Judge information
  • Real-time alerts
  • 450K+ searchable archived articles

And more!

Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial.

Start Free Trial

Already a subscriber? Click here to login

Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!