The judge has
ruled [PDF] that we can read the unredacted trial transcripts from the
IP Innovation v. Red Hat and Novell patent infringement trial last April. As you may recall, Red Hat and Novell
won, and in Texas too, the jury finding that all the patents asserted were invalid. So we've been dying to read these transcripts together. But there was a lengthy argument over redactions, so I waited until that was settled. Here is Judge Randall R. Rader's main reason for letting us read them all:
This court finds that the public should have access to the contested portions of the trial transcript and the admitted trial exhibits. In recent years, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has expressed increased interest in patent damages methodologies and the probative value of prior license agreements. See, e.g., ResQNet.com, Inc. v. Lansa, Inc., 594 F.3d 860, 868-73 (Fed. Cir. 2010); Lucent Techs., Inc. v. Gateway, Inc., 580 F.3d 1301, 1323-39 (Fed. Cir. 2009). The trial testimony in this case highlighted the parties' differing damages methodologies and treatments of prior license agreements to the patents-in-suit. Public access to such testimony provides the public with a more complete understanding of the damages methodology in this patent infringement case. This court's rulings on damages issues and its discussions with the damages experts regarding the license agreements may also be relevant to future litigants in preparing their damages cases.
So here they are. If you've ever been curious to know what a patent litigation trial is like, this is your chance. It will no doubt help you in finding prior art in the future, by seeing how the lawyers used it here. It's rather dazzling, with a live demo of a 1985 Amiga. Yes. The Amiga was still alive and usable for the demonstration by Red Hat and Novell's expert to show prior art.
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