Crossing the Border: Federal Circuit Confirms Patent Owner’s Ability to Recover a Reasonable Royalty Based on Foreign Activity

On March 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential opinion in Brumfield, Trustee for Ascent Trust v. IBG LLC,⁽¹⁾ clarifying the scope of potentially available damages based on foreign conduct in patent cases. Specifically, the court held that if a causal relationship between a domestic act of infringement and the foreign conduct is established, a patent owner can obtain reasonable royalty damages based on that foreign activity.