In Brief: The method for calculating liquidated damages isn’t simple math.

The Copyright Act allows the recovery of actual damages; but not everything is included. %CUT% Rachel Ann Nunes wrote a novel called Bid for Love. Tiffanie Rushton admitted that she copied some of Bid for Love for her book, The Auction Deal. Rachel sued Tiffanie for copyright infringement. Rachel claimed that her actual damages were the lost sales of two books she didn’t write because of the emotional distress she suffered as a result of the infringement. The court held that the Copyright Act does not provide for the recovery of damages for emotional distress. So Rachel had no actual damages. However, she still is entitled to statutory damages.

SCOTUS tells the Federal Circuit to back off of patent damages rules. %CUT% Under the Patent Act, a court may increase the damages up to three times of a judgment. Last year, in two decisions, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals imposed strict limits on the plaintiffs’ ability to get enhanced damages. The Federal Circuit required a plaintiff to show two things: (1) that there was a high likelihood that the infringer’s actions constituted infringement; (2) that the infringer knew the risk. Under this standard, any defense by an accused infringer that was not frivolous would get them off the hook. SCOTUS reversed the Federal Circuit recognizing that the Patent Act left enhanced damages to the discretion of the trial court. SCOTUS acknowledged that Federal Circuit’s test was trying to keep enhanced damages for egregious cases only. But the test was too rigid. Justice Roberts wrote: “[The] threshold requirement excludes from discretionary punishment many of the most culpable offenders, such as the “wanton and malicious pirate” who intentionally infringes another's patent—with no doubts about its validity or any notion of a defense—for no purpose other than to steal the patentee's business.” The two cases will go back to the trial courts to determine the availability of enhanced damages using a less rigid and more neutral test.