In Rex Medical, LP v. Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Nos. 2024-1072, 2024-1125 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 2, 2025), the Federal Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion when reducing the jury's $10 million damages award to a nominal $1. The Court reasoned that Rex Medical failed to provide enough evidence to establish a reasonable royalty calculation. The case involved Rex Medical's claim that Intuitive Surgical’s staplers infringed two of its patents. The Federal Circuit found the methodology of the plaintiff's damages expert flawed, as the methodology attributed a lump-sum license payment made for a patent portfolio to only the patent-in-suit, without determining the extent to which the other patents in the portfolio contributed to the lump-sum payment. The Federal Circuit further determined that lay testimony from Rex’s president also failed to allocate value among the patents in the portfolio, compelling the jury to guess at the damages. Despite evidence of over $600 million in total product sales for Intuitive Surgical’s staplers, no information was provided to establish how much of those sales could be attributed to the patented innovations. The Federal Circuit thus concluded that, without sufficient evidence for a royalty rate calculation, the reduction to nominal damages was proper.
Author: Jeffrey Midose, edited by April Capati and Craig Drachtman
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