Intellectual Property News and Reports

A jury found Blue Coat Systems, Inc. (“Blue Coat”) liable for infringement of four patents owned by Finjan, Inc. (“Finjan”) and awarded approximately $39.5 million in reasonable royalty damages. After trial, the district court concluded that the ’844 patent was patent-eligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101 and denied Blue Coat’s post-trial motions for judgment as a matter of law (“JMOL”) and a new trial. Blue Coat appeals.

We find no error in the district court’s subject matter eligibility determination as to the ’844 patent and agree that substantial evidence supports the jury’s finding of infringement of the ’844 and ’731 patents. However, we conclude that Blue Coat was entitled to JMOL of noninfringement for the ’968 patent because the accused products do not perform the claimed “policy index” limitation. On appeal, Blue Coat does not challenge the verdict of infringement for the ’633 patent.

With respect to damages, we affirm the award with respect to the ’731 and ’633 patents. We vacate the damages award for the ’968 patent, as there was no infringement. With respect to the ’844 patent, we agree with Blue Coat that Finjan failed to apportion damages to the infringing functionality and that the $8-per-user royalty rate was unsupported by substantial evidence.

We therefore affirm-in-part, reverse-in-part, and remand to the district court for further consideration of the damages issue as to the ’844 patent.

Download Finjan Inc. v. Blue Coat Systems Inc.