Court Doubles Damages Award Against Briggs and Stratton for Willful Infringement

A Nebraska court upheld a jury’s reasonable royalty award of more than $14 million for infringement of Exmark’s patent relating to lawnmower baffles. An appellate court had vacated a previous jury award and remanded the case for a new damages trial. In addition to upholding the jury’s award, the court doubled that award due to Briggs and Stratton’s willful infringement. The court also added nearly $6 million in prejudgment interest. The court had previously calculated interest using the U.S. Treasury rate. The court reconsidered that ruling and conceded that such a low rate would unfairly punish Exmark. Thus, the court recalculated interest using the prime rate for the time after Exmark filed the lawsuit.