Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.

United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
__________________________

UNILOC USA, INC. AND UNILOC SINGAPORE
PRIVATE LIMITED,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION,
Defendant-Cross Appellant.
__________________________

2010-1035, -1055
__________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the
District of Rhode Island in Case No. 03-CV-0440, Judge
William E. Smith.
__________________________

Decided: January 4, 2011
__________________________

DONALD R. DUNNER, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow,
Garrett and Dunner, LLP, of Washington, DC, argued for
plaintiff-appellant. With him on the brief were DON O.
BURLEY; ERIK R. PUKNYS and AARON J. CAPRON, of Palo
Alto, California. Of counsel on the brief were PAUL J.
HAYES and DEAN G. BOSTOCK, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris,
Glovsky & Popeo PC, of Boston, Massachusetts
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 2

FRANK E. SCHERKENBACH, Fish and Richardson P.C.,
of Boston, Massachusetts, argued for defendant-cross
appellant. With him on the brief were KURT L.
GLITZENSTEIN; JOHN W. THORNBURGH, of San Diego,
California and LAURA R. BRADEN, of Washington, DC.
__________________________

Before RADER, Chief Judge, LINN and MOORE, Circuit
Judges.
LINN, Circuit Judge.
Uniloc USA, Inc. and Uniloc Singapore Private Lim-
ited (collectively, “Uniloc”) appeal from the decision of the
United States District Court for the District of Rhode
Island granting Microsoft Corporation’s (“Microsoft”)
motion for judgment as a matter of law (“JMOL”) of non-
infringement and no willful infringement of asserted
claims of Uniloc’s U.S. Patent No. 5,490,216 (“’216 pat-
ent”), and, in the alternative, granting a new trial on
infringement and willfulness. Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Micro-
soft Corp., 640 F. Supp. 2d 150 (D.R.I. Sept. 29, 2009)
(“Uniloc II”). Uniloc also appeals the district court’s
alternative grant of a new trial on damages. Microsoft
cross-appeals the district court’s denial of its motion for
JMOL of invalidity of the ’216 patent. Id. at 179-83.
Because the jury’s verdict on infringement was sup-
ported by substantial evidence, this court reverses the
district court’s grant of JMOL of non-infringement; this
court also reverses the district court’s alternative grant of
a new trial on infringement as an abuse of discretion.
Because the jury’s verdict on willfulness was not sup-
ported by substantial evidence, this court affirms the
district court’s grant of JMOL of no willfulness; the dis-
trict court’s alternative grant of a new trial for willfulness
3 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

is thus rendered moot. Because the jury’s damages award
was fundamentally tainted by the use of a legally inade-
quate methodology, this court affirms the grant of a new
trial on damages. Finally, because the district court did
not abuse its discretion in determining that the jury
verdict of no invalidity of the ’216 patent was supported
by substantial evidence, we affirm the district court’s
denial of Microsoft’s motion for JMOL of invalidity.
I. BACKGROUND
Commercial software manufacturers like Microsoft
lose significant sales as a result of the “casual copying” of
software, where users install copies of a software program
on multiple computers in violation of applicable software
license conditions. Uniloc’s ’216 patent was an early
attempt to combat such software piracy. There is no
dispute as to the actual functioning of Uniloc’s patented
invention and Microsoft’s accused products. The following
background information is taken from the district court’s
opinion. Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d 150.
A. The ’216 Patent
Uniloc’s ’216 patent is directed to a software registra-
tion system to deter copying of software. The system
allows the software to run without restrictions (in “use
mode”) only if the system determines that the software
installation is legitimate. A representative embodiment
functions as follows. First, a user intending to use the
software in “use mode” enters certain user information
when prompted, which may include a software serial
number and/or name and address information. An algo-
rithm on the user’s computer (a “local licensee unique ID
generating means”) combines the inputted information
into “a registration number unique to an intending licen-
see” (a “local licensee unique ID”). ’216 patent, Abstract.
The user information is also sent to the vendor’s system,
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 4

which performs the identical algorithm (a “remote licen-
see unique ID generating means”) to create a “remote
licensee unique ID” for the user. When the application
boots again, a “mode switching means” compares the local
and remote licensee unique IDs. If they match, the pro-
gram enters into “use mode.” If they do not match, the
program enters into “demo mode,” wherein certain fea-
tures are disabled. Figure 8 from the ’216 patent shows
the fifth preferred embodiment:

’216 patent, Fig. 8.
Uniloc asserts only independent claim 19:
19. A remote registration station incorpo-
rating remote licensee unique ID generat-
5 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

ing means, said station forming part of a
registration system for licensing execution
of digital data in a use mode, said digital
data executable on a platform, said system
including local licensee unique ID generat-
ing means, said system further including
mode switching means operable on said
platform which permits use of said digital
data in said use mode on said platform
only if a licensee unique ID generated by
said local licensee unique ID generating
means has matched a licensee unique ID
generated by said remote licensee unique
ID generating means; and wherein said
remote licensee unique ID generating
means comprises software executed on a
platform which includes the algorithm
utilized by said local licensee unique ID
generating means to produce said licensee
unique ID.
’216 patent, col. 15 l.21 – col. 16 l.9 (emphasis added).
B. The Accused Product
The accused product is Microsoft’s Product Activation
feature that acts as a gatekeeper to Microsoft’s Word XP,
Word 2003, and Windows XP software programs. Upon
receipt of Microsoft’s retail software program, the user
must enter a 25-character alphanumeric product key
contained within the packaging of Microsoft’s retail
products. If the Key is valid, the user is asked to agree to
the End User License Agreement (“EULA”), by which the
licensor-licensee relationship is initiated.
At about this time, the software creates a Product ID
(“PID”) and a Hardware ID (“HWID”) on the user’s com-
puter. The PID is formed from the combination of the
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 6

Product Key, information from the software CD, and a
random number from the user’s computer. The HWID is
generated from information about the user’s computer.
The user may use the software without initiating Product
Activation, but such use is temporally limited (50 start-
ups of Office and 30 days use of Windows until basic
functions like saving and printing are deactivated) and
functionally limited (no updates can be downloaded and
installed). If the user elects to initiate Product Activation,
the software sends a digital license request to Microsoft
over the internet, which includes: the PID, the HWID,
and additional activation information. At Microsoft’s
remote location, this information is entered into one of
two software algorithms: the MD5 message digest algo-
rithm (“MD5”) for Office products and the SHA-1 secure
hash algorithm (“SHA-1”) for Windows products. 1
The functionality of the MD5 and SHA-1 algorithms is
at the heart of this case. As the district court noted,
Microsoft’s expert, Dr. Wallach, provided a demonstrative
animation, which gives a clear, detailed, and uncontested
explanation of the functionality of these algorithms. The
animation and the explanation of it given by Dr. Wallach
at the trial (Trial Tr. 157:21-166:3, Mar. 31, 2009) may be
downloaded at http://oralarguments.cafc.uscourts.gov/ani
mation/Uniloc.2010-1035.Animation.pdf. The first frame
is explained below.

1 As discussed in the animation referred to, in-
fra, the only differences between MD5 and SHA-1 are the
added logical operation group and shifting step in SHA-1.
Throughout this litigation, the two algorithms have been
treated as functionally identical for infringement pur-
poses. For ease of presentation, this opinion discusses
only the MD5 algorithm, but it is uncontested that the
same analysis applies to both.
7 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

First, A, B, C, and D are 32-bit numbers and F, G, H,
and I are logical operations into which the numbers B, C,
and D are entered. For example,
F(x, y, z) = (x AND y) OR ((NOT x) AND z). Thus, if B, C,
and D are 0, 1, 1, respectively, F(0, 1, 1) = 1. The result is
that three 32-bit numbers are compressed into a single
32-bit number.
Second, the resulting number is added to A using
modular addition. Modular addition is a way of adding
that resets the count of a sum after a certain threshold
number is reached. The most familiar example is the
American A.M./P.M. clock system. If a three hour movie
begins at 11:00 A.M., it will end at 2:00 P.M. This is an
example of mod12 addition: one first adds 11+3=14 then
subtracts 12 to get 2. Modular addition, or modulo-
addition, is used throughout the MD5 algorithm.
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 8

Third, M1, the first component of the source message
being hashed, is modulo-added to the result from step 2.
Fourth, additive constant Ki is modulo-added to the
result from step 3.
Fifth, the resulting number is “circular shifted” (ac-
cording to Microsoft) or “left shifted” (according to Uniloc);
the shift is depicted by the green box with the three
arrows in the diagram. Because the actual functionality
is not disputed, we will refer to it as “circular shifting” for
the purposes of this opinion. Inserting into the shifter the
binary number 0100 1011 2 (which is the binary equiva-
lent of 75), and shifting it by 1 place would yield 1001
0110 (which is the binary equivalent of 150). The result
of this operation is a multiplication by two for each single
unit shift. If the number is again shifted (or if the origi-
nal shift was by 2 places), the output becomes 0010 1101
(which is the binary equivalent of 45). Because a single 8-
bit string cannot represent numbers larger than 255
(1111 1111), such numbers are represented in mod255;
thus the 300 expected from multiplying 150 by 2, becomes
45 in mod255 (300-255).
Sixth, the resulting number is then modulo-added to
initial value B, which final number becomes the new
value B’. Initial value C becomes new value D’, D be-
comes A’, and A becomes B’. The hashing algorithm is
then run again using these new values (A’, B’, C’, D’) in
place of the old (A, B, C, D) and the second component of
the message (M2) in place of the first (M1). After sixteen
rounds of this, a different logical function, G(x, y, z) is
used, and the same message string is input in a different

2 For demonstration purposes, we use an 8-bit
number, though the MD5 algorithm uses a 32-bit number.
Four of the characters are italicized to demonstrate the
effect of the circular shifter.
9 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

order. The function G is used for sixteen rounds, followed
by sixteen rounds of function H and sixteen rounds of
function I. The end result is a “license digest,” i.e. “a
shortened fixed-bit output,” Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at
157, derived from the original message.
Microsoft encrypts this digest, and sends it along with
the original data back to the user’s computer. The soft-
ware on the user’s computer decrypts the message and
recovers the “license digest.” It then inputs the original
data (i.e. the PID, HWID, and additional activation in-
formation) and enters it into the same MD5 or SHA-1
algorithm used by Microsoft’s computers, resulting in a
local “license digest.” Microsoft’s Product Activation
software compares the local license digest and the remote
license digest; if they match, the software product is
activated. If they do not, the software returns to pre-
Product Activation mode.
C. Procedural History
In the first iteration of this case, the district court is-
sued a claim construction ruling, construing several terms
that are relevant to the instant appeal. Uniloc USA, Inc.
v. Microsoft Corp., 447 F. Supp. 2d 177 (D.R.I. 2006)
(“Uniloc I Claim Construction”). These appear below.
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 10

“Licensee unique “A unique identifier associated with
ID” a licensee.” Id. at 183.
“Local licensee Means plus function. “Function: to
unique ID generat- generate a local or remote licensee
ing means” and unique ID” and “Structure: a sum-
“Remote licensee mation algorithm or a summer and
unique ID generat- equivalents thereof.” Id. at 190.
ing means”
“Use mode” “A mode that allows full use of the
digital data or software in accor-
dance with the license.” Id. at 196.
“Mode switching Means plus function. “Function: to
means” permit the digital data or software
to run in a use mode if the locally
generated licensee unique ID
matches with the remotely gener-
ated licensee unique ID.” and
“Structure: program code which
performs a comparison of two
numbers or a comparator and
equivalents thereof.” Id. at 198
(synonyms in the claim construction
not relevant to the claim at issue
are removed for simplicity).
“Registration “A system that allows digital data
system” or software to run in a use mode on
a platform if and only if an appro-
priate licensing procedure has been
followed.” Id. at 202.
The district court granted summary judgment of non-
infringement, Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 03-
440 (D.R.I. Oct. 19, 2007), concluding that the algorithm
used at Microsoft’s remote station to generate a licensee
11 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

unique ID was not identical to the algorithm used on the
user’s local station as required by the last limitation in
the claim. Id. at 24.
On appeal, this court reversed and remanded the find-
ing of non-infringement, holding that Uniloc had put forth
“extensive and by no means conclusory” evidence that
Microsoft’s Product Activation used the same algorithm at
the local and remote sites (respectively, the “local licensee
unique ID generating means” and “remote licensee unique
ID generating means”), and that the issue of whether the
accused products met this limitation should have gone to
the jury. Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., 290 Fed.
App’x 337, 343 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (non-precedential)
(“Uniloc I”). In that appeal, Microsoft presented several
alternative grounds for affirmance, including several
arguments centered around the lack of any information in
that is “uniquely associated with the person” that results
in a “licensee unique ID.” Br. of Microsoft Corp. at 37-53,
Uniloc I (Mar. 19, 2008). This court held that “the licen-
see unique ID does not require personal information
about the user,” so long as it is “unique,” and not “based
solely on platform-related user information.” Uniloc I,
290 Fed. App’x at 342-43. We explicitly noted that the
specification of the ’216 patent “leave[s] open the possibil-
ity that vendor-provided information, like Microsoft’s
Product Key, could be the basis for a ‘licensee unique ID.’”
Id. at 344. Microsoft also argued that Product Activation
lacked a “licensee unique ID generating means.” This
court summarily rejected that argument, noting that “[w]e
have considered these arguments [for affirmance on
alternative grounds] and conclude they are without
merit.” Id. at 342.
On remand, the district court first rejected several in
limine motions, including a motion by Microsoft to exclude
any testimony by Uniloc’s damages expert, Dr. Gemini,
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 12

under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509
U.S. 589 (1993) and Federal Rule of Evidence 702, for his
use of an allegedly arbitrary baseline rate of $10-per-
activation, and the use of a 25 percent rule of thumb.
Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., 632 F. Supp. 2d 147,
150-51 (D.R.I. Mar. 16, 2009) (“In Limine”). After a full
trial, the jury returned a verdict of infringement and no
invalidity of claim 19 of the ’216 patent, and found Micro-
soft’s infringement to be willful. The jury awarded Uniloc
$388 million in damages. In post trial motions, Microsoft
asked for: (1) JMOL of invalidity due to anticipation and
obviousness; (2) JMOL of non-infringement of the “licen-
see unique ID generating means” and “registration sys-
tem”/“mode switching means” limitations; (3) JMOL of
non-infringement because Microsoft could not have di-
rectly infringed the system because claim 19 requires acts
to be taken on the user’s local computer over which Micro-
soft has no control; (4) JMOL of no willfulness; (5) a new
trial on damages for the improper use of the 25% rule of
thumb and the entire market value rule; and (6) in the
alternative, a new trial on infringement and willfulness.
The district court, in a comprehensive and well-
reasoned opinion, denied JMOL of invalidity, granted
JMOL of non-infringement on the basis of both contested
claim limitations, granted JMOL of no willfulness,
granted a new trial on damages on the improper use of
the entire market value rule, rejected Microsoft’s argu-
ments regarding the 25 percent rule of thumb as having
been previously decided, Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 184
and n.42, and granted in the alternative a new trial on
infringement and willfulness. The district court also
considered and rejected Microsoft’s contentions that it
could not directly infringe the asserted claims. The
details of the district court’s opinion are discussed more
fully below.
13 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

Uniloc appeals all but the denial of JMOL of invalid-
ity, which Microsoft cross-appeals. We have jurisdiction
under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).
II. DISCUSSION
A. Infringement
To prove infringement, the plaintiff bears the burden
of proof to show the presence of every element or its
equivalent in the accused device. Lemelson v. United
States, 752 F.2d 1538, 1551 (Fed. Cir. 1985). The under-
lying infringement issue is a question of fact reviewed for
substantial evidence. Finisar Corp. v. DirecTV Group,
Inc., 523 F.3d 1323, 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2008).
This court’s review of a district court’s grant of JMOL
is governed by regional circuit law. Union Carbide
Chems. & Plastics Tech. Corp. v. Shell Oil Co., 425 F.3d
1366, 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2005). The First Circuit reviews a
district court’s denial of JMOL after a jury verdict de
novo, asking whether “the evidence points so strongly and
overwhelmingly in favor of the moving party that no
reasonable jury could have returned a verdict adverse to
that party.” Keisling v. Ser-Jobs for Progress, Inc., 19
F.3d 755, 759-60 (1st Cir. 1994). This court may not
evaluate “the credibility of witnesses, resolve conflicts in
testimony, or evaluate the weight of the evidence,” but
must view the evidence in the light most favorable to
Uniloc. Gibson v. City of Cranston, 37 F.3d 731, 735 (1st
Cir. 1994).
Microsoft argues that because there is no dispute
about how the accused products work, infringement
should be reviewed de novo. Br. of Microsoft Corp. at 18,
22-23 (citing Athletic Alts., Inc. v. Prince Mfg., Inc., 73
F.3d 1573, 1578 (Fed. Cir. 1996) (“Where, as here, the
parties do not dispute any relevant facts regarding the
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 14

accused product but disagree over which of two possible
meanings of Claim 1 is the proper one, the question of
literal infringement collapses to one of claim construction,
and should thus be reviewed de novo.”) and General Mills,
Inc. v. Hunt-Wesson, Inc., 103 F.3d 978, 983 (Fed. Cir.
1997) (similar)). It is well-settled that infringement is a
factual issue, reviewed for substantial evidence. E.g.
Finjan, Inc. v. Secure Computing, Corp., 2010 U.S. App.
LEXIS 23216 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 4, 2010); Connell v. Sears,
Roebuck & Co., 722 F.2d 1542, 1546 (Fed. Cir. 1983). The
cases cited by Microsoft involve a procedural posture not
present in this case. As this court noted in International
Rectifier Corp. v. IXYS Corp., 361 F.3d 1363, 1374 (Fed.
Cir. 2004), the infringement issue in General Mills col-
lapsed into claim construction because “the parties agreed
with each other and the district court about how each of
two competing claim constructions would apply to the
undisputed structure of the accused invention.” In other
words, the parties conceded that under one claim con-
struction there was infringement and under the other
there was none, and were arguing only over which claim
construction was appropriate. The infringement issue in
Althetic Alternatives also came to this court with the same
posture. See 73 F.3d at 1581 (“We conclude that Claim 1
of the ’097 patent includes the limitation that the splay-
creating string end offset distance take on at least three
values, i.e., a minimum, a maximum, and at least one
intermediate value. We thus affirm the district court’s
conclusion that Claim 1 does not literally read on the
Vortex racket.”). As discussed below, this case presents
the opposite procedural posture; the claim construction
itself is not contested, but the application of that claim
construction to the accused device is. Thus, this court
applies the traditional rule for review of jury verdicts of
factual issues discussed above.
15 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

This case presents three primary infringement issues:
1) whether the accused products contain “licensee unique
ID generating means”; 2) whether the accused products
contain a “registration system” with a “mode switching
means” that precludes full use of the software unless the
outputs of the local and remote algorithms match; and 3)
whether Microsoft can be liable for direct infringement
when it has no control over the user’s computer.
1. “Licensee Unique ID Generating Means”
The ’216 patent specification describes the licensee
unique ID generating means as an algorithm that func-
tions by “combin[ing] by addition the serial number 50
with the software product name 64 and customer infor-
mation 65 and previous user identification 22 to provide
registration number 66.” Id. col. 11 ll. 53-56. The district
court’s construction of “licensee unique ID generating
means” is undisputed on appeal: it is a means plus func-
tion claim, with the function being “to generate a local or
remote licensee unique ID” and the structure being “a
summation algorithm or a summer and equivalents
thereof.” Uniloc I Claim Construction, 447 F. Supp. 2d at
190.
The district court determined that no reasonable jury
could find that the accused products were summation
algorithms, and granted JMOL of non-infringement. The
district court gave seven reasons for its decision: (1) the
“circular shifting and mixing functions fundamentally
create a more secure result compared to an algorithm
based in summation as the specification discloses,” Uniloc
II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 170; (2) summation is reversible and
MD5 is irreversible and much more complicated, id.
(citing Business Objects, S.A. v. Microstrategy, Inc., 393
F.3d 1366, 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2005)); (3) “MD5 achieves its
function in a way an algorithm based in summation could
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 16

not,” id.; (4) the ’216 patent contained only a narrow
structural disclosure that is not entitled to a broad scope,
id. at 171; (5) the documentary evidence presented by
Uniloc did not show what “the complex hashes in this case
actually do, and whether that is equivalent to the ‘by
addition’ structure Uniloc disclosed,” id. at 172; (6) Uniloc
did not put forth expert opinion interpreting the docu-
ments, except for Klausner’s presentation of “factual
information under the guise of opinion,” id. at 172 and
n.25 (citing Centricut, LLC v. Esab Grp., Inc., 390 F.3d
1361, 1369-70 (Fed. Cir. 2004), but noting that that case
is “not a perfect fit”); and (7) “[t]he jury ‘lacked a grasp of
the issues before it,’” id. at 173 (citing Tex. Instruments
Inc. v. Cypress Semiconductor Corp., 90 F.3d 1558, 1570
(Fed. Cir. 1996)) because it “ignored Dr. Wallach’s admit-
tedly complex explanation and embraced Mr. Klausner’s”
“incomplete, oversimplified and frankly inappropriate
explanation,” id. at 170 n.21.
Uniloc argues that a reasonable jury could have con-
cluded that MD5 and SHA1 were summation algorithms
within the meaning of the ’216 patent, and that the
district court erred in granting JMOL of non-
infringement. The jury heard two sets of evidence in
favor of Uniloc’s contention that MD5 and SHA1 were
summation algorithms. First, Dr. Klausner, Uniloc’s
expert, testified that MD5 makes a digest of the message
it receives
by doing addition and multiplication in a
series of rounds over and over again. It
takes a piece of the input, adds and shifts
it, takes another piece of the input, adds
and shifts it. It does a number of other
operations, what are called logical opera-
tions in mathematics. But the essence is
it eventually adds each of the results of
17 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

these piece-wise operations into a bucket
or a hash, and that hash becomes the out-
put of the algorithm.
He also testified that MD5 uses “two primary kinds of
operations to do its work. One is addition, summing; and
the other is what we call left shifting . . . [which is] actu-
ally nothing more than multiplication. . . [which] is noth-
ing more than addition done over and over again.”
Klausner then identified the source code that was the
basis of his understanding that MD5 performed addition,
noting that “I’m not saying that that’s all that MD5 does,
but that’s a significant portion of the MD5 algorithm.”
Second, the jury saw documentary evidence identifying
MD5 as, or equating it to, a summation algorithm. For
example, in Microsoft’s Windows Protocols Master Glos-
sary, one entry reads “checksum: A value that is the
summation of a byte stream. By comparing the check-
sums computed from a data item at two different times,
one can quickly assess whether the data items are identi-
cal.” That same document equates “hashes” and “check-
sums,” and notes that “[w]ell-known hash algorithms for
computer hashes include MD4, MD5, and SHA1.” Other
Microsoft documents also refer to the outcome of the MD5
algorithm as a “checksum.” See Kenneth Pfeil, Data
Security and Data Availability in the Administrative
Authority, Microsoft TechNet, available at
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722918.aspx
(“Hashing. Hashing is also referred to as MD5 check-
sum.”). See also Windows Driver Kit: Network Devices
and Protocols: NDIS_TASK_IPSEC, MSDN, updated
document available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/ff558990.aspx (“MD5 Set by a miniport driver
to indicate that its NIC can use the keyed MD5 algorithm
for computing and/or validating a cryptographic checksum
for an AH payload and/or ESP payload.”). In addition,
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 18

Uniloc relied on U.S. Patent No. 6,263,432 (“’432 patent”),
which, in describing the procedure for generating a secure
e-ticket, includes the following step:
In this example, each of the four fields in
the ‘eticket’ framework 302 and user ex-
tension 304 include data represented by
the number ‘1’ in step S1. The message
Digest/Hash is represented by a summa-
tion (Σ) algorithm (equated to, or exem-
plary of, the MD5 protocol or other
hashing algorithm). Hence, to calculate
the Message Digest/Hash, a summation
algorithm is implemented using all eight
fields of data in step 2.
’432 patent col. 9 ll.50-57.
Uniloc also argues that the district court improperly
narrowed the claim construction on JMOL from “summa-
tion algorithm” to a “simple combination of inputs by
addition,” Uniloc, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 170, which was
improper under Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Mustek Sys., Inc.,
340 F.3d 1314, 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2003).
Microsoft counters with three arguments. First,
Uniloc’s interpretation of “summation algorithm” would
be so broad as to cover any algorithm with a plus sign,
and would be akin to adopting the rejected claim con-
struction of licensee unique ID generating means as
simply “an algorithm.” Microsoft argues that such a
broad reading is inconsistent with the patent, which
disclosed only the specific structure where “the algorithm,
in this embodiment, combines by addition,” ’216 patent,
col. 11 ll.53-56. Second, Microsoft notes that its expert,
Dr. Wallach, established that the algorithms as a whole
are not “summation algorithm[s]” because neither circular
shifting nor the logical operations of MD5 and SHA1 are
19 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

addition-based, and that his testimony was unrebutted,
because the district court prevented Uniloc’s expert, Dr.
Klausner, from opining that MD5 and SHA1 were sum-
mation algorithms within the scope of claim 19 of the ’216
patent. Finally, Microsoft contrasts the purpose of MD5
and SHA1—to irreversibly scramble the data so that the
inputs cannot be derived—with the purpose of the sum-
mation algorithms in the ’216 patent, to put data together
by addition.
As this court held in Uniloc I, 290 Fed. App’x at 342,
there was substantial evidence for a jury to conclude that
the output of the MD5 and SHA1 algorithms was a licen-
see unique ID. Thus, both MD5 and the summation
algorithm in the ’216 patent perform the same function of
generating a licensee unique ID. It is also undisputed
that MD5 and SHA1 use some addition to perform this
function. Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 168. Thus, the
issue is whether the additional structural components of
MD5 and SHA1 preclude a reasonable jury from finding
that they are “summation algorithm[s].” This court
agrees with Uniloc that they do not.
First, the breadth of claim 19 is not as narrow as Mi-
crosoft argues and the district court concluded. “The
literal scope of a properly construed means-plus-function
limitation does not extend to all means for performing a
certain function. Rather, the scope of such claim lan-
guage is sharply limited to the structure disclosed in the
specification and its equivalents.” J&M Corp. v. Harley-
Davidson, Inc., 269 F.3d 1360, 1367 (Fed. Cir. 2001).
Nevertheless, in determining equivalence under § 112 ¶ 6,
“the range of permissible equivalents depends upon the
extent and nature of the invention.” IMS Tech., Inc. v.
Haas Automation, Inc., 206 F.3d 1422, 1436 (Fed. Cir.
2000) (citing Tex. Instruments, Inc. v. ITC, 805 F.2d 1558,
1563 (Fed. Cir. 1986)). “More particularly, when in a
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 20

claimed ‘means’ limitation the disclosed physical struc-
ture is of little or no importance to the claimed invention,
there may be a broader range of equivalent structures
than if the physical characteristics of the structure are
critical in performing the claimed function in the context
of the claimed invention.” Id. The structural disclosure
in the ’216 patent is not limited to simple addition in the
colloquial sense of adding numbers together and nothing
more. In the sixth embodiment, from which the summa-
tion structure was derived, the algorithm “combines by
addition the serial number 50 with the software product
name 64 and customer information 65 and previous user
identification 22 to provide registration number.” ’216
patent col.11 ll.54-57. This “combination by addition”
necessarily incorporates an initial step of converting the
information into a common format to be added, which
requires more than simple addition. Moreover, there is no
indication that the summation structure was critical to
the ’216 patent’s licensee unique ID generating means
algorithm’s function of generating a licensee unique ID.
In fact, the ’216 patent repeatedly refers to the licensee
unique ID generating means by the generic phrase, “an
algorithm,” e.g. ’216 patent col.2 ll.65-66, and makes clear
that the importance of the algorithm is only that it be
“adapted to generate a registration number which is
unique to an intending licensee.” Id. col.2 ll.66-67. It
may well be that the structural disclosure of the licensee
unique ID generating means limitation is minimal be-
cause of the relative unimportance of the particular
structure of that element. This does not, as Microsoft
argues, result in pure functional claiming, nor expand the
claim construction to Uniloc’s proposed and rejected one of
“an algorithm.” Declining to limit the construction to
simple addition does not also extend the claims to any
algorithm that includes a plus sign; the construction
retains its explicit limitation that the algorithm used be
21 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

fairly capable of categorization as “a summation algo-
rithm.”
Second, a jury could reasonably determine that MD5
and SHA1 were not as radically different from the sum-
mation algorithm disclosed in the ’216 as Microsoft and
the district court determined them to be. Klausner testi-
fied that the “essence” of MD5 is that it “adds each of the
results of [the logical operations and shifts] into a bucket
or hash,” and that addition is one of the “two primary
kinds of operations [that MD5 performs],” and the second
is left shifting, which he equated to multiplication, which
he testified “is nothing more than addition done over and
over again.” To be sure, Microsoft’s Dr. Wallach disagreed
with Klausner’s testimony, choosing to focus on the logical
functions, which he called the “heart and soul that makes
MD5 what it is,” and the circular shifter, both of which he
opined were not “summation.” However, Microsoft has
not explained why all the steps of an algorithm must be
summation steps in order for the algorithm to qualify as a
summation algorithm. The jury could reasonably have
believed that MD5 is a summation algorithm. As this
court noted in IMS Tech., “though two structures argua-
bly would not be considered equivalent structures in other
contexts, e.g., if performing functions other than the
claimed function,” they may nevertheless be equivalent
under § 112 ¶ 6 when performing the same function. 206
F.3d at 1436. Here, the claimed function is the genera-
tion of a licensee unique ID, see infra section I.C, and if as
Klausner testified, MD5 uses addition to perform this
function, the enhanced functionality of MD5 in making
the output more secure should not prevent it from being
considered an equivalent structure. Microsoft’s argument
that because MD5 is irreversible it cannot be a summa-
tion algorithm—such that even if “you know the output of
the algorithm, it is impossible even to guess any one input
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 22

that would create the output,” Br. of Microsoft at 21—is
likewise unconvincing, because the same is true of the
most basic simple addition algorithm (e.g., it is impossible
to identify the two numbers whose sum is 23).
Third, the district court improperly rejected Klaus-
ner’s testimony as “incomplete, oversimplified and frankly
inappropriate,” justifying its rejection by Klausner’s
failure to discuss hashing, summation, or left-shifting in
his expert report, and his analogizing of an MD5 digest to
a Reader’s Digest book. Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 170
n.21. In common with the other circuits, First Circuit law
does not allow the district court in a jury trial to evaluate
“the credibility of witnesses, resolve conflicts in testimony,
or evaluate the weight of the evidence.” Gibson, 37 F.3d
at 735. Under Daubert, the district court must exercise
its “gatekeeper” function in ensuring that scientific testi-
mony is relevant and reliable. Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmi-
chael, 526 U.S. 137, 137 (1999) (discussing Daubert v.
Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 589 (1993)). Here, the
district court explicitly noted that Klausner was “quali-
fied.” Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 172 n.25. It is decid-
edly the jury’s role to evaluate the weight to be given to
the testimony of dueling qualified experts. i4i Ltd. P’ship
v. Microsoft Corp., 598 F.3d 831, 856 (Fed. Cir. 2010), cert.
granted, 562 U.S. --- (U.S. Nov. 29, 2010) (No. 10-290)
(“[I]t is not the district court’s role under Daubert to
evaluate the correctness of facts underlying an expert’s
testimony.”). The district court’s criticism of Klausner’s
use of the analogy of a digest to a “reader’s digest” is also
improper, because Microsoft did not object at trial and has
used the same analogy in describing the output of SHA1
as a “hash digest, where digest indicates a shortened size,
similar to Reader’s Digest condensed books.”
Klausner’s testimony was certainly a simplification of
the functioning of MD5, but neither the district court nor
23 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

Microsoft demonstrate why it was “oversimplified,” Uniloc
II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 171 n.21, or even why it was inaccu-
rate. Klausner recognized that summation was not all
that MD5 did, but opined that it was “a significant portion
of the MD5 algorithm.”
Finally, Microsoft’s attacks on the documentary evi-
dence presented by Uniloc are unwarranted. In particu-
lar, the contemporaneous Microsoft documents that define
the output of MD5 as a “checksum,” or “cryptographic
checksum,” or indicate that MD5 is indicative of a sum-
mation algorithm, ’432 patent col. 9 ll.50-57, help to
associate the MD5 procedure within the reasonable
bounds of the word “summation.” It is reasonable to
consider MD5 a summation algorithm where those skilled
in the art refer to its output as a “hashsum” or an “MD5
sum.” Dr. Wallach had the opportunity to respond at
trial. For example, in discussing Microsoft’s TechNet
document, which included an entry, “Hashing. Hashing is
also referred to as MD5 checksum,” Dr. Wallach and
Uniloc’s attorney engaged in the following colloquy:
Q. Thank you. And so, then, apparently,
you disagree that it would be fair to say
that a – that an MD5 is a checksum?
A. MD5 is a cryptographic checksum. It’s
a specialized kind of checksum.
Q. No, no, I didn’t ask that question.
A. Yes, you did.
Q. I said would you agree that it would be
fair to refer to the MD5 as just a check-
sum, as specifically done in Microsoft’s
document here?
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 24

A. Computer scientists would call MD5 a
cryptographic checksum to distinguish it
from other kinds of checksums.
Microsoft has failed to show why a reasonable jury could
not have rejected this distinction. Moreover, the district
court’s response to these documents is puzzling. The
district court acknowledged that “[s]ome of these docu-
ments no doubt say that MD5 and SHA-1 are a type of
hash, or checksum,” but noted that the documents did not
show what “the complex hashes in this case actually do,”
Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 172. However, MD5 and
SHA-1 are the complex hashes in this case.
For the above reasons, this court concludes that a rea-
sonable jury could rely on Klausner’s testimony and the
documentary evidence to conclude that MD5 and SHA1
were “summation algorithm[s]” as that phrase is used in
the context of the ’216 patent.
2. “Registration System” and “Mode
Switching Means”
In the alternative, the district court granted JMOL of
non-infringement because of Product Activation’s failure
to incorporate a “registration system” or “mode switching
means” using the following constructions:
25 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

“Mode Means plus function. “Function: to permit
switching the digital data or software to run in a use
means” mode if the locally generated licensee
unique ID matches with the remotely
generated licensee unique ID.” and “Struc-
ture: program code which performs a
comparison of two numbers or a compara-
tor and equivalents thereof.” Uniloc I
Claim Construction, 447 F. Supp. 2d at
198 (synonyms in the claim construction
not relevant to the claim at issue are
removed for simplicity).

“Registration “A system that allows digital data or
system” software to run in a use mode on a plat-
form if and only if an appropriate licensing
procedure has been followed.” Id. at 202.

“Use mode” “A mode that allows full use of the digital
data or software in accordance with the
license.” Id. at 196.

These constructions are undisputed on appeal. It is also
undisputed that the relevant “license” in the definition of
“use mode” is the EULA, to which the user agrees prior to
initiation of Product Activation in the accused product.
The crux of the question is whether the use of the accused
products before Product Activation constitutes full use in
accordance with the EULA.
Microsoft argues that the legal licensing occurred at
the time the EULA was accepted by the user, and that
whatever use this permitted was full use in accordance
with the license. In other words, because the terms of the
EULA only give the user the right to use the accused
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 26

products with certain temporal and functional restric-
tions, such restricted use is “full use” under the terms of
the EULA, and “fulfill[s] the seller’s/licensor’s obligations
in relation to the sale or license of the right to execute the
digital data or software in the use mode.” ’216 patent col.
2 ll.42-44. Microsoft contrasts its system with that dis-
closed in the ’216 patent, which it says is limited to sys-
tems in which legal licensing and registration occur
concurrently.
The district court agreed with Microsoft, holding that
once the user agrees to the EULA, “the user becomes a
licensee, and can use the software in accordance with the
terms of the license, and with the provided functionality .
. . . Activation itself simply opens additional doors which
were previously locked to the licensee.” Uniloc II, 640 F.
Supp. 2d at 175-77.
Microsoft’s argument ultimately fails because it rests
on the false factual premise that the functionality during
the “grace period” between the EULA and Product Activa-
tion satisfies Microsoft’s obligations under the EULA.
This factual premise is false for three reasons. First, the
EULA accompanying Microsoft Office states: “Manda-
tory Activation. You may not be able to exercise Your
rights to the Software Product under this EULA after a
finite number of product launches unless You activate
Your copy of the Software Product in the manner de-
scribed during the launch sequence.” This sentence
indicates that “rights . . . under this EULA” are restricted
unless the product is activated, and do not encompass
some abstract right to full functionality. Consistently, the
Windows EULA, in a clause discussing “Mandatory
Activation” notes that “[t]he license rights granted under
this EULA are limited to the first thirty (30) days after
you first install the Product unless you supply informa-
tion required to activate your licensed copy.” These
27 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

“license rights granted under this EULA” are rights that
had already been defined by the EULA without temporal
or functional restrictions: “You may install, use, access,
display and run one copy of the Product on a single com-
puter,” subject only to limitations on the number of proc-
essors and computers that may use the program. Second,
both the Windows license (“Microsoft grants you the
following rights provided that you comply with all terms
and conditions of this EULA”) and the Office license (“The
license rights described in this Section are subject to all
other terms and conditions of this EULA”) are conditional.
Both also note that Product Activation is “[m]andatory.”
Thus, unless the user activates the product, she is not
entitled to the rights granted by the EULA. Finally,
Klausner testified that unless the accused products are
activated, they cannot receive product updates or up-
grades. However, the Windows EULA allows a user to
install “updates, supplements, add-on components, or
Internet-based services components, of the Product that
Microsoft may provide to you or make available to you
after the date you obtain your initial copy of the Product.”
Thus, in order to have “full use . . . in accordance with the
license,” the user must have access to these upgrades.
This only occurs upon activation.
This court thus concludes that use during the “grace
period” after agreement to the EULA and before Product
Activation in the accused product does not constitute full
use in accordance with the EULA. It is undisputed that
Product Activation lifts all the grace period restrictions if
and only if the information entered indicates a legitimate
copy of Office or Windows.
Moreover, the ’216 patent is not limited to the situa-
tion where activation and licensing are concurrent. In the
preferred embodiment shown in Figures 2a-c, the regis-
tration system requires the user to view the license and to
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 28

“continue” with the registration, far upstream of the
activation. Until the user inputs confirmed payment
details and plugs in a valid registration number, only the
“demo version” of the software will run. Once the user
performs these steps, the registration system switches the
software into the “full version.” ’216 patent, Figs. 2a-c.
For the above reasons, the jury had substantial evi-
dence to find that Microsoft’s Product Activation included
a “registration system” and “mode switching means,” and
thus the district court erred in granting JMOL of non-
infringement on the basis of this limitation.
3. Alternative Ground for Affirmance:
Licensee Unique ID
Microsoft also argues as an alternative ground for af-
firmance of JMOL that the output of its MD5 and SHA1
algorithms was not a licensee unique ID as required by
claim 19 of the ’216 patent because it was not “associated
with a licensee.” This argument was sufficiently ad-
dressed and decided against Microsoft by this court in the
prior appeal, and is thus law of the case here. Uniloc I,
290 Fed. App’x at 345 (reversing summary judgment of
non-infringement and holding that the output of Product
Activation “generate[s] what might qualify as a licensee
unique ID, the hash value”).
4. Alternative Ground for Affirmance:
Direct Infringement
Microsoft presents an alternative ground for affir-
mance of JMOL of non-infringement, on the basis that
Uniloc failed to prove direct infringement because Micro-
soft did not supply or use the end-users’ computers that
implemented the local licensee unique ID generating
means and mode switching means. Microsoft relies
primarily on Cross Medical Products, Inc. v. Medtronic
29 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

Sofamor Danek, Inc., 424 F.3d 1293 (Fed. Cir. 2005), and
a line of cases including Muniauction, Inc. v. Thompson
Corp., 532 F.3d 1318 (Fed. Cir. 2008) and BMC Res., Inc.
v. Paymentech, L.P., 498 F.3d 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2007). The
district court rejected this argument in its JMOL opinion.
Microsoft’s argument is severely hampered by the
language of claim 19. Claim 19 is directed to “A remote
registration station incorporating remote licensee unique
ID generating means, said station forming part of a
registration system . . . including local licensee unique ID
generating means . . . .” ’216 patent col.15 ll.21-26. As we
noted in BMC, “[a] patentee can usually structure a claim
to capture infringement by a single party,” by “focus[ing]
on one entity.” 498 F.3d at 1381. This is exactly what
Uniloc did in claim 19, which focuses exclusively on the
“remote registration station,” and defines the environ-
ment in which that registration station must function. It
cannot be disputed that during each Product Activation,
Microsoft “uses” a “remote registration station” that
incorporates a “remote licensee unique ID generating
means,” and this station forms part of a “registration
system” that also includes a “local licensee unique ID
generating means” and a “mode switching means.” That
other parties are necessary to complete the environment
in which the claimed element functions does not necessar-
ily divide the infringement between the necessary parties.
For example, a claim that reads “An algorithm incorporat-
ing means for receiving e-mails” may require two parties
to function, but could nevertheless be infringed by the
single party who uses an algorithm that receives e-mails.
The claim here is thus distinguishable from those at
issue in Muniauction and BMC, because here, only one
party, Microsoft, makes or uses the remote registration
station. See Muniauction, 532 F.3d at 1329; BMC, 498
F.3d at 1373. Nor is claim 19 analogous to the claim at
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 30

issue in Cross Medical. There, the claim called for “[a]
fixation device comprising . . . an anchor seat means
which has a lower bone interface operatively joined to
said bone segment.” 424 F.3d at 1599 (citing U.S. Patent
No. 5,474,555 col. 8 ll.33-41). This court construed
“operatively joined” to mean that the interface and the
bone must be in contact, id. at 1305, and held that Med-
tronic did not infringe the claims because “Medtronic does
not itself make an apparatus with the ‘interface’ portion
in contact with bone,” id. at 1311. Here, however, Micro-
soft does make and use the remote registration station in
the environment required by the claims, when the MD5
and SHA1 generate a remote licensee unique ID. More-
over, this court agrees with the district court that
“[a]ccepting Microsoft’s argument that the local side of
Claim 19 requires an end-user’s participation, similar to
the surgeons’ participation in Cross Medical, would be
akin to importing a method step into this software sys-
tem—something the language of Claim 19 does not sup-
port.” Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 162.
5. New Trial on Infringement Issues
Citing the closeness of the questions presented on
JMOL in this case, the district court also granted in the
alternative Microsoft’s motion for a new trial on infringe-
ment.
This court’s standard of review over a district court’s
grant of a motion for new trial is governed by regional
circuit law. WMS Gaming Inc. v. Int’l Game Tech., 184
F.3d 1339, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 1999). In the First Circuit, a
new trial is only appropriate when “the outcome is
against the clear weight of the evidence such that uphold-
ing the verdict will result in a miscarriage of justice.”
Ramos v. Davis & Geck, Inc., 167 F.3d 727, 731 (1st Cir.
1999). In contrast to JMOL, in considering a motion for a
31 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

new trial, the district court may “independently weigh the
evidence.” Jennings v. Jones, 587 F.3d 430, 436 (1st Cir.
2009).
“[A] district judge cannot displace a jury’s verdict
merely because he disagrees with it or because a contrary
verdict may have been equally supportable. As we have
repeatedly observed, trial judges do not sit as thirteenth
jurors, empowered to reject any verdict with which they
disagree.” Id. (internal citation omitted). Nevertheless,
the district court is entitled to deference in granting a
new trial motion, and the First Circuit only overturns the
grant of a new trial if the district court has abused its
discretion. Id. at 435 (citing Gasperini v. Ctr. For Hu-
manities, Inc., 518 U.S. 415, 435 (1996)). As the Supreme
Court noted, “[t]rial judges have the unique opportunity
to consider the evidence in the living courtroom context,
while appellate judges see only the cold paper record.”
Gasperini, 518 U.S. at 438.
The district court granted Microsoft’s motion for a
new trial on the infringement issues in the alternative to
its JMOL motion, and did not present any analysis apart
from its analysis of the JMOL infringement issues dis-
cussed above. This court is convinced that the district
court’s grant of a new trial on infringement has no more
merit than the district court’s grant of JMOL on in-
fringement. Though it is a close issue, this is not a
situation where the evidence falls within the zone where
substantial evidence supports the verdict and the district
court’s discretion in granting a new trial trumps such
evidence. This court thus reverses the district court’s
grant of a new trial on infringement for the same reasons
as it reverses the grant of JMOL of non-infringement.
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 32

B. JMOL and New Trial for Willfulness
“[T]o establish willful infringement, a patentee must
show by clear and convincing evidence that the infringer
acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its ac-
tions constituted infringement of a valid patent.” In re
Seagate Tech., LLC, 497 F.3d 1360, 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2007)
(en banc). This is an objective inquiry. Id. In addition, a
patentee must show that this risk “was either known or so
obvious that it should have been known to the accused
infringer.” Id. This is a subjective inquiry.
The district court concluded that no reasonable jury
could have found that Microsoft’s conduct fell under either
Seagate prong. Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 176-77
(objective prong), 177-79 (subjective prong). If the ac-
cused infringer’s position is susceptible to a reasonable
conclusion of no infringement, the first prong of Seagate
cannot be met. See Cohesive Techs., Inc. v. Waters Corp.,
543 F.3d 1351, 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (“Because ‘rigid’ was
susceptible to a reasonable construction under which
Waters’s products did not infringe, there was not an
objectively high likelihood that Waters’s actions consti-
tuted infringement.”).
Uniloc has failed to meet the threshold objective
prong of Seagate. Uniloc has not presented any evidence
at trial or on appeal showing why Microsoft, at the time it
began infringement, could not have reasonably deter-
mined that MD5 and SHA1 did not meet the “licensee
unique ID generating means,” “licensee unique ID,” or
“registration system”/“mode switching means” limitations.
Specifically, infringement of the “licensee unique ID
generating means” limitation is a complicated issue, made
more so because “equivalence requires an intensely fac-
tual inquiry,” DePuy Spine, Inc. v. Medtronic Sofamor
Danek, Inc., 567 F.3d 1314, 1337 (Fed. Cir. 2009).
33 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

Uniloc’s argument about copying is largely inapposite.
See id. at 1336 (“[E]vidence of copying in a case of direct
infringement is relevant only to Seagate’s second prong.”).
As the district court noted, the facts here presented are
“hardly the stuff of which objectively reckless unreason-
able conduct is made.” Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 177.
Given this court’s conclusion that Uniloc failed to
show that a reasonable jury could find Microsoft’s conduct
objectively reckless on the evidence presented, this court
need not address the subjective prong of Seagate. This
court thus affirms the district court’s grant of JMOL of no
willfulness, and need not address the district court’s
alternative grant of a new trial on willfulness.
C. New Trial on Damages
The jury here awarded Uniloc $388 million, based on
the testimony of Uniloc’s expert, Dr. Gemini. Dr. Gemini
opined that damages should be $564,946,803. This was
based on a hypothetical negotiation between Uniloc and
Microsoft and the Georgia-Pacific factors. See Georgia-
Pacific Corp. v. U.S. Plywood Corp., 318 F. Supp. 1116
(S.D.N.Y. 1970). Gemini began with an internal pre-
litigation Microsoft document that stated:
Product Keys are valuable for two major
reasons. First, since Product Keys can be
used to install a product and create a valid
Product ID, you can associate a monetary
value to them. An appraisal process found
that a Product Key is worth anywhere be-
tween $10 and $10,000 depending on us-
age. Secondly, Product Keys contain short
digital signature technology that Microsoft
Research created. For these reasons, it is
crucial that Product Keys are handled
with maximum security.
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 34

In Limine, 632 F. Supp. 2d at 150 n.2. Gemini took the
lowest value, $10, and testified that this is “the isolated
value of Product Activation.” Gemini then applied the so-
called “25 percent rule of thumb,” hypothesizing that 25%
of the value of the product would go to the patent owner
and the other 75% would remain with Microsoft, resulting
in a baseline royalty rate of $2.50 per license issued.
Gemini justified the use of the rule of thumb because it
has “been accepted by Courts as an appropriate method-
ology in determining damages, in [his] experience, in
other cases.” He then considered several of the Georgia
Pacific factors, with the idea being “to adjust this 25% up
or down depending on how [the Georgia Pacific factors]
favor[] either party.” At bottom, he concluded that the
factors in favor of Uniloc and Microsoft generally balanced
out and did not change the royalty rate. He then multi-
plied the $2.50 royalty rate by the number of new licenses
to Office and Windows products, 225,978,721, to get a
final reasonable royalty of $564,946,803. Gemini then
“did kind of a check to determine whether that number
was reasonable. It’s obviously, you know, a significant
amount of money. I wanted to check to make sure it was
a reasonable number.” The “check” was performed by
“estimating the gross revenues for the accused products”
by multiplying the 225,978,721 licenses by the average
sales price per license of $85. The resulting gross revenue
value was $19.28 billion. Gemini then calculated that his
damages calculation resulted in a royalty rate over the
gross revenue of Office and Windows of approximately
2.9%. Gemini presented this information in a demonstra-
tive pie chart to accompany his testimony. In response to
Uniloc’s attorney’s question: “And have you prepared a
chart or a graph or a pie chart to show us this compari-
son?” Uniloc’s attorney, Mr. Cronin stated, “Your honor,
there’s no objection,” and Microsoft attorney Mr. Scherk-
enbach stated, “Right, there is no objection.” Gemini then
35 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

opined that “in my experience, and data I’ve seen as far as
industry royalty rates for software, which are generally
above – on average, above 10% or 10, 11%, I felt that this
royalty was reasonable and well within that range.”
Microsoft had challenged the 25% rule in limine and
attempted to exclude Mr. Gemini’s testimony. The dis-
trict court noted that “the concept of a ‘rule of thumb’ is
perplexing in an area of the law where reliability and
precision are deemed paramount,” but rejected Microsoft’s
position because the rule has been widely accepted. The
district court thus considered the use of the rule of thumb
to be reasonable. In Limine, 632 F. Supp. 2d at 151.
Microsoft contested Gemini’s use of the entire market
value rule “check” because Product Activation was not the
basis of the consumer demand for Microsoft’s Office and
Windows products. The district court agreed with Micro-
soft, and granted a new trial on damages, because the
“$19 billion cat was never put back into the bag” and the
jury may have “used the $19 billion figure to ‘check’ its
significant award of $388,000,000.” Uniloc II, 640 F.
Supp. 2d at 185.
On appeal, the parties present the court with three
damages issues: 1) the propriety of using the 25 percent
rule; 2) application of the entire market value rule as a
“check”; and 3) excessiveness of damages. Because this
court affirms the district court’s conditional grant of a
new trial on damages, this court need not reach the last
issue.
1. 25 Percent Rule
Section 284 of Title 35 of the United States Code pro-
vides that on finding infringement of a valid patent,
damages shall “in no event [be] less than a reasonable
royalty for the use made of the invention by the infringer,
together with interest and costs as fixed by the court.” In
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 36

litigation, a reasonable royalty is often determined on the
basis of a hypothetical negotiation, occurring between the
parties at the time that infringement began. Wang Labs
Inc. v. Toshiba Corp., 993 F.2d 858, 869-70 (Fed. Cir.
1993). A reasonable royalty is the predominant measure
of damages in patent infringement cases. William C.
Rooklidge and Martha K. Gooding, When Hypothetical
Turns to Fantasy: The Patent Reasonable Royalty Hypo-
thetical Negotiation, BNA Insights Vol. 80:1983, at 701
n.10 (“Hypothetical Negotiation”) (citing PriceWater-
houseCoopers, A Closer Look: Patent Litigation Trends
and the Increasing Impact of Nonpracticing Entities at 5
(2009)).
The 25 percent rule of thumb is a tool that has been
used to approximate the reasonable royalty rate that the
manufacturer of a patented product would be willing to
offer to pay to the patentee during a hypothetical negotia-
tion. Robert Goldscheider, John Jarosz and Carla Mul-
hern, Use Of The 25 Per Cent Rule in Valuing IP, 37 les
Nouvelles 123, 123 (Dec. 2002) (“Valuing IP”). “The Rule
suggests that the licensee pay a royalty rate equivalent to
25 per cent of its expected profits for the product that
incorporates the IP at issue.” Id. As explained by its
leading proponent, Robert Goldscheider, the rule takes
the following form:
An estimate is made of the licensee’s ex-
pected profits for the product that embod-
ies the IP at issue. Those profits are
divided by the expected net sales over that
same period to arrive at a profit rate.
That resulting profit rate, say 16 per cent,
is then multiplied by 25 per cent to arrive
at a running royalty rate. In this exam-
ple, the resulting royalty rate would be 4
per cent. Going forward (or calculating
37 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

backwards, in the case of litigation), the 4
per cent royalty rate is applied to net sales
to arrive at royalty payments due to the IP
owner.
Id. at 124. The underlying “assumption is that the licen-
see should retain a majority (i.e. 75 percent) of the profits,
because it has undertaken substantial development,
operational and commercialization risks, contributed
other technology/IP and/or brought to bear its own devel-
opment, operational and commercialization contribu-
tions.” Id.
The rule was originally based on Goldscheider’s ob-
servations of commercial licenses entered into by a “Swiss
subsidiary of a large American company, with 18 licensees
around the world, each having an exclusive territory.” Id.
The rights transferred were a portfolio of patents and
other intellectual property apparently related to the
patented products. Id. The term of each of these licenses
was for three years, with the expectation that the licenses
would be renewed. Id. at 123. The licensees “faced strong
competition,” and “were either first or second in sales
volume, and probably profitability, in their respective
market.” Id.
According to its proponents, the veracity of the 25
percent rule has been “confirmed by a careful examination
of years of licensing and profit data, across companies and
industries.” John C. Jarosz, Carla S. Mulhern and Mi-
chael Wagner, The 25% Rule Lives On, IP Law360, Sept.
8, 2010. Goldscheider published a further empirical study
in 2002, concluding that across all industries, the median
royalty rate was 22.6 percent, and that the data sup-
ported the use of the 25 percent rule “as a tool of analy-
sis.” Valuing IP, 37 les Nouvelles at 132-33. Additionally,
in a 1997 study of licensing organizations, 25 percent of
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 38

the organizations indicated that they use the 25 percent
rule as a starting point in negotiations. Stephen A.
Degnan & Corwin Horton, A Survey of Licensed Royalties,
32 les Nouvelles 91, 95 (June 1997).
The 25 percent rule has, however, met its share of
criticism that can be broadly separated into three catego-
ries. First, it fails to account for the unique relationship
between the patent and the accused product. See Gregory
K. Leonard and Lauren J. Stiroh, Economic Approaches to
Intellectual Property Policy, Litigation, and Management,
949 PLI/Pat 425, 454-55 (Sept.-Nov. 2008) (“[The 25
percent rule] takes no account of the importance of the
patent to the profits of the product sold, the potential
availability of close substitutes or equally noninfringing
alternatives, or any of the other idiosyncrasies of the
patent at issue that would have affected a real-world
negotiation.”); Richard S. Toikka, Patent Licensing Under
Competitive and Non-Competitive Conditions, 82 J. Pat. &
Trademark Off. Soc’y 279, 292-93 (Apr. 2000) (arguing
that it fails to “distinguish between monopoly and normal
profit. . . . Thus for narrow patents, the rule may be overly
generous to the patentee, and for broad patents it may be
overly stingy”). Second, it fails to account for the unique
relationship between the parties. See Ted Hagelin,
Valuation of Patent Licenses, Tex. Intell. Prop. L.J. 423,
425-26 (Spring 2004) (noting that the rule should not be
used in isolation because it fails to “account[] for the
different levels of risk assumed by a licensor and licen-
see”); Hypothetical Negotiations at 702 (“[T]he rule is
unlikely to have any basis in the accused infringer’s
industry, in the technology involved in either the patent
or the accused product or service, or in the claimed inven-
tion’s contribution to the infringing product or service.”).
Finally, the rule is essentially arbitrary and does not fit
within the model of the hypothetical negotiation within
39 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

which it is based. See Roy J. Epstein and Alan J. Marcus,
Economic Analysis of the Reasonable Royalty: Simplifica-
tion and Extension of the Georgia-Pacific Factors, 85 J.
Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc’y 55, 574 (July 2003) (“[The
25% and the 5%] rules of thumb are best understood as
special cases [] that may be appropriate to a given situa-
tion only by chance.”); Roy J. Epstein, Modeling Patent
Damages: Rigorous and Defensible Calculations (2003)
(paper presented at the AIPLA 2003 Annual Meeting) at
22 available at http://www.royepstein.com/epstein_aipla_
2003_article_website.pdf (last accessed Nov.19, 2010)
(arguing that the 25% rule “shortcut” “is essentially
arbitrary. Because it is based on ex post results, it does
not necessarily relate to the results of a negotiation that
took place prior to the infringement”).
The admissibility of the bare 25 percent rule has
never been squarely presented to this court. Neverthe-
less, this court has passively tolerated its use where its
acceptability has not been the focus of the case, see e.g.,
i4i Ltd., 598 F.3d 831; Fonar Corp. v. General Elec. Co.,
107 F.3d 1543, 1553 (Fed. Cir. 1997), or where the parties
disputed only the percentage to be applied (i.e. one-
quarter to one-third), but agreed as to the rule’s appropri-
ateness, Finjan, Inc. v. Secure Computing Corp., slip op.
No. 2009-1576, -1594 at 23 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 4, 2010).
Lower courts have invariably admitted evidence based on
the 25% rule, largely in reliance on its widespread accep-
tance or because its admissibility was uncontested. See In
Limine, 632 F. Supp. 2d at 151 (“The ‘25% Rule’ has been
accepted as a proper baseline from which to start [a
royalty] analysis.” (internal citations omitted)); GSI Grp.,
Inc. v Sukup Mfg., Co., 641 F. Supp. 2d 732, 745 (C.D. Ill.
2008) (same); i4i Ltd. P’Ship v. Microsoft Corp., 670 F.
Supp. 2d 568, 592 (E.D. Tex. 2009), aff’d on other grounds
by 598 F.3d 831 (“[i4i’s expert] testified that it was cus-
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 40

tomary within his field to apply a ‘25% rule of thumb’ . . . .
Thus, considering the foundation laid by [i4i’s expert’s]
testimony, his application of the 25% rule was relevant
and appropriate considered.”); Static Control Components,
Inc. v. Lexmark Int’l, Inc., Nos. 5:02-571, 5:04-84, 2007
WL 7083655 at *13-14 (E.D. Ky. May 12, 2007) (“While
Lexmark does not believe the ‘rule of thumb’ approach is
the most appropriate way to calculate ‘reasonable royalty,’
as SCC correctly notes, case law suggests it is one way of
doing so” (citing Standard Mfg. Co. v. United States, 42
Fed. Cl. 748, 766 (1999))); Novozymes A/S v. Genencor
Int’l, Inc., 474 F. Supp. 2d 592, 606 (D. Del. 2007) (“While
there is no particular analytical justification for [the rule
of thumb], it has been used to estimate royalties.”); Inline
Connection Corp. v. AOL Time Warner Inc., 470 F. Supp.
2d 424, 432 n.38 (D. Del. 2007) (allowing 25% rule be-
cause its use was not disputed); Bose Corp. v. JBL, Inc.,
112 F. Supp. 2d 138, 167 (D. Mass. 2000) (“Courts have
found the 25%/75% approach to be a useful approach to
arriving at a baseline royalty rate. . . . [The opposing
expert] conceded that this approach is a common and
reasonable one, though he has never used that approach
in negotiating licenses” (citing Standard Mfg., 42 Fed. Cl.
at 764)); Standard Mfg., 42 Fed. Cl. at 766 (“[T]he 25%
rule or a close variant of it has been recognized by a
number of other federal courts as a ‘rule of thumb’ or
‘typical’ in the licensing field.”); Procter & Gamble Co. v.
Paragon Trade Brands, Inc., 989 F. Supp. 547, 612 (D.
Del. 1997) (“Although the Court will consider the Rule-of-
Thumb analysis in determining the royalty rate, this
approach will not receive substantial weight.”); Secure
Energy, Inc. v. Coal Synthetics, LLC, No. 4:08-CV-1719,
2010 WL 1692076 at *1 (E.D. Mo. Apr. 27, 2010) (“The
parties agree that application of the 25% ‘rule of thumb’ is
acceptable to determine a reasonably royalty case such as
this.”). See also Paice LLC v. Toyota Motor Corp., 609 F.
41 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

Supp. 2d 620, 629-30 (E.D. Tex. 2009) (applying 25% rule
without discussion); EZ Dock, Inc. v. Schafer Sys., Inc.,
No. 98-2364, 2003 WL 1610781 (D. Minn. Mar. 8, 2003)
(same). In at least one case, the district court admitted
the evidence, but refused to give it substantial weight
because, “neither expert testified as to the customary
profit percentage used to set the royalty rates in licenses
in other businesses” and because “[t]here was no testi-
mony advocating the use of the [sic] this approach as an
appropriate guidepost for the determination of a royalty
rate under a Georgia-Pacific analysis.” Procter & Gamble
Co. v. Paragon Trade Brands, Inc., 989 F. Supp. at 612.
In Daubert, 509 U.S. 589 and Kumho Tire, 526 U.S.
137, the Supreme Court assigned to the district courts the
responsibility of ensuring that all expert testimony must
pertain to “scientific, technical, or other specialized
knowledge” under Federal Rule of Evidence (“FRE”) 702,
which in turn required the judge to determine that the
testimony was based on a firm scientific or technical
grounding. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 589-90; Kumho Tire, 526
U.S. at 148. “Expert testimony which does not relate to
any issue in the case is not relevant and, ergo, non-
helpful.” Daubert, 509 U.S. at 591 (citing 3 Weinstein &
Berger ¶ 702[02], p. 702-18).
This court now holds as a matter of Federal Circuit
law that the 25 percent rule of thumb is a fundamentally
flawed tool for determining a baseline royalty rate in a
hypothetical negotiation. Evidence relying on the 25
percent rule of thumb is thus inadmissible under Daubert
and the Federal Rules of Evidence, because it fails to tie a
reasonable royalty base to the facts of the case at issue.
The patentee bears the burden of proving damages.
Lucent Techs., Inc. v. Gateway, Inc., 580 F.3d 1301, 1324
(Fed. Cir. 2009). To properly carry this burden, the
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 42

patentee must “sufficiently [tie the expert testimony on
damages] to the facts of the case.” Daubert, 509 U.S. at
591 (“An additional consideration under Rule 702—and
another aspect of relevancy—is whether expert testimony
proffered in the case is sufficiently tied to the facts of the
case that it will aid the jury in resolving a factual dis-
pute.”) (citing United States v. Downing, 753 F.2d 1224,
1242 (3d Cir. 1985)). If the patentee fails to tie the theory
to the facts of the case, the testimony must be excluded.
For example, in General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 US 136
(1997), the Supreme Court allowed the exclusion of eight
of Joiner’s experts who opined that polychlorinated bi-
phenyls (“PCBs”) could cause cancer on the strength of
several studies showing that mice receiving high doses of
PCB developed cancer. The Supreme Court noted that
“[t]he studies were so dissimilar to the facts presented in
this litigation that it was not an abuse of discretion for
the District Court to have rejected the experts’ reliance on
them,” id. at 144-45, and affirmed the exclusion because
Joiner had failed to tie the experts’ opinions to the “seem-
ingly far-removed animal studies,” id. at 144. Likewise,
in Kumho Tire, a products liability case arising out of a
blown tire, the Supreme Court affirmed the exclusion of
an expert opinion that argued that the cause of the acci-
dent at issue was a defect in the tire, based on the ex-
pert’s visual and tactile inspection of the tire. 526 U.S. at
153. The specific issue was not whether the visual and
tactile inspection methodology was “reasonable[] in gen-
eral,” but whether “it was [reasonable to] us[e] such an
approach . . . to draw a conclusion regarding the particu-
lar matter to which the expert testimony was directly
relevant.” Id. at 153-54. “The relevant issue was whether
the expert could reliably determine the cause of this tire’s
separation.” Id. at 154. The Court held that the expert
had failed to reliably opine on this issue under Daubert
because his general theory—“that in the absence of at
43 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

least two of four signs of abuse . . . he concludes that a
defect caused the separation,” id.—did not take into
account the facts of the particular tire at issue: that the
tire “had traveled far enough so that some of the tread
had been worn bald; it should have been taken out of
service; it had been repaired (inadequately) for punctures;
and it bore some of the very marks that the expert said
indicated, not a defect, but abuse through overdeflection.”
Id. In responding to the plaintiff’s argument, “that a
method of tire failure analysis that employs a vis-
ual/tactile inspection is a reliable method,” based on “its
use by other experts and to Carlson’s [the expert in the
case] long experience working for Michelin,” the Court
reaffirmed that “the question before the trial court was
specific, not general. Id. The trial court had to decide
whether this particular expert had sufficient specialized
knowledge to assist the jurors ‘in deciding the particular
issues in the case.” Id. at 156. The Court held that he did
not.
The bottom line of Kumho Tire and Joiner is that one
major determinant of whether an expert should be ex-
cluded under Daubert is whether he has justified the
application of a general theory to the facts of the case.
Consistent with this conclusion, this court has held that
“[a]ny evidence unrelated to the claimed invention does
not support compensation for infringement but punishes
beyond the reach of the statute.” ResQNet.com, Inc. v.
Lansa, Inc., 594 F.3d 860, 869 (Fed. Cir. 2010).
In ResQNet, Lucent Technologies, 580 F.3d 1301, and
Wordtech Systems, Inc. v. Integrated Networks Solutions,
Inc., 609 F.3d 1308 (Fed. Cir. 2010), this court determined
that a patentee could not rely on license agreements that
were “radically different from the hypothetical agreement
under consideration” to determine a reasonable royalty.
Lucent Techs., 580 F.3d at 1327. See also ResQNet, 594
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 44

F.3d at 870-72 (holding that evidence of royalty rates from
licenses without a relationship to the claimed invention
could not form the basis of a reasonable royalty calcula-
tion). In Lucent Technologies, the patentee’s expert relied
in large part on “eight varied license agreements,” four of
which involved “PC-related patents,” but either the spe-
cific subject matter of the patents was not explained to
the jury or the license was “directed to a vastly different
situation than the hypothetical licensing scenario of the
present case,” and four of which Lucent did not describe
the relationship between the patented technology licensed
therein and the licensee’s products. See 580 F.3d at 1328-
31. This court noted that the “licenses relied on by the
patentee in proving damages [must be] sufficiently com-
parable to the hypothetical license at issue in suit,” id. at
1325, and that the patentee’s failure to do so “weighs
strongly against the jury’s award” relying on such non-
comparable licenses, id. at 1332. Similarly, in ResQNet,
the patentee’s expert “used licenses with no relationship
to the claimed invention to drive the royalty rate up to
unjustified double-digit levels,” looking at licenses that
did not mention the patents and had no “other discernible
link to the claimed technology.” 594 F.3d at 870. This
court rejected the expert’s testimony, holding that the
district court “must consider licenses that are commensu-
rate with what the defendant has appropriated. If not, a
prevailing plaintiff would be free to inflate the reasonable
royalty analysis with conveniently selected licenses
without an economic or other link to the technology in
question.” Id. at 872. This court held that on remand,
“the trial court should not rely on unrelated licenses to
increase the reasonable royalty rate above rates more
clearly linked to the economic demand for the claimed
technology.” Id. at 872-73.
45 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

Similarly, in Wordtech, the patentee “introduced thir-
teen patent licenses that it previously granted to third
parties for rights to some or all of the patents-in-suit” to
argue to support the jury’s damages determination. 609
F.3d at 1319. This court rejected eleven of the licenses
because they were running royalty licenses (the patentee
had only asked for a lump sum payment) and represented
far lower rates than the jury returned. Id. at 1320-21.
This court rejected the remaining two licenses (both for
lump sum payments) because “[n]either license de-
scribe[d] how the parties calculated each lump sum, the
licensees’ intended products, or how many products each
licensee expected to produce.” Id. at 1320.
The meaning of these cases is clear: there must be a
basis in fact to associate the royalty rates used in prior
licenses to the particular hypothetical negotiation at issue
in the case. The 25 percent rule of thumb as an abstract
and largely theoretical construct fails to satisfy this
fundamental requirement. The rule does not say any-
thing about a particular hypothetical negotiation or
reasonable royalty involving any particular technology,
industry, or party. Relying on the 25 percent rule of
thumb in a reasonable royalty calculation is far more
unreliable and irrelevant than reliance on parties’ unre-
lated licenses, which we rejected in ResQNet and Lucent
Technologies. There, the prior licenses at least involved
the same general industry and at least some of the same
parties as the hypothetical negotiations at issue, and in
Wordtech even involved licenses to the patents in suit
entered into by the patentee-plaintiff. Lacking even these
minimal connections, the 25 percent rule of thumb would
predict that the same 25%/75% royalty split would begin
royalty discussions between, for example, (a) TinyCo and
IBM over a strong patent portfolio of twelve patents
covering various aspects of a pioneering hard drive, and
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 46

(b) Kodak and Fuji over a single patent to a tiny im-
provement in a specialty film emulsion.
It is of no moment that the 25 percent rule of thumb is
offered merely as a starting point to which the Georgia-
Pacific factors are then applied to bring the rate up or
down. Beginning from a fundamentally flawed premise
and adjusting it based on legitimate considerations spe-
cific to the facts of the case nevertheless results in a
fundamentally flawed conclusion. This is reflected in
Lucent Technologies, in which unrelated licenses were
considered under Georgia-Pacific factor 1, but this court
held that the entire royalty calculation was unsupported
by substantial evidence.
To be admissible, expert testimony opining on a rea-
sonable royalty rate must “carefully tie proof of damages
to the claimed invention’s footprint in the market place.”
ResQNet, 594 F.3d at 869. This court has sanctioned the
use of the Georgia-Pacific factors to frame the reasonable
royalty inquiry. Those factors properly tie the reasonable
royalty calculation to the facts of the hypothetical nego-
tiation at issue. This court’s rejection of the 25 percent
rule of thumb is not intended to limit the application of
any of the Georgia-Pacific factors. In particular, factors 1
and 2—looking at royalties paid or received in licenses for
the patent in suit or in comparable licenses—and factor
12—looking at the portion of profit that may be customar-
ily allowed in the particular business for the use of the
invention or similar inventions—remain valid and impor-
tant factors in the determination of a reasonable royalty
rate. However, evidence purporting to apply to these, and
any other factors, must be tied to the relevant facts and
circumstances of the particular case at issue and the
hypothetical negotiations that would have taken place in
light of those facts and circumstances at the relevant
time.
47 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

In this case, it is clear that Gemini’s testimony was
based on the use of the 25% rule of thumb as an arbitrary,
general rule, unrelated to the facts of this case. When
asked the basis of his opinion that the rule of thumb
would apply here, Gemini testified: “[i]t’s generally ac-
cepted. I’ve used it. I’ve seen others use it. It’s a widely
accepted rule.” Upon further questioning, Dr. Gemini
revealed that he had been involved in only four or five
non-litigation related negotiations, and had recommended
the 25% rule only once in a case involving a power tool.
He did not testify that the parties here had a practice of
beginning negotiations with a 25%/75% split, or that the
contribution of Product Activation to Office and Word
justified such a split. He did not base his 25 percent
baseline on other licenses involving the patent at issue or
comparable licenses. In short, Gemini’s starting point of a
25 percent royalty had no relation to the facts of the case,
and as such, was arbitrary, unreliable, and irrelevant.
The use of such a rule fails to pass muster under Daubert
and taints the jury’s damages calculation.
This court thus holds that Microsoft is entitled to a
new trial on damages.
2. Entire Market Value Rule
As discussed above, Gemini performed “a check to de-
termine whether” his $564,946,803 royalty figure was
reasonable by comparing it to his calculation of Micro-
soft’s approximate total revenue for Office and Windows
of $19.28 billion. During trial, Gemini testified that his
calculated royalty accounted for only 2.9% of Microsoft’s
revenue, and accented his point by reference to a prepared
pie chart, showing Microsoft’s $19.28 billion in revenue
with a 2.9% sliver representing his calculated royalty
rate. He concluded that 2.9% was a reasonable royalty
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 48

based on his experience that royalty rates for software are
“generally above – on average, above 10% or 10, 11%.”
The entire market value rule allows a patentee to as-
sess damages based on the entire market value of the
accused product only where the patented feature creates
the “basis for customer demand” or “substantially cre-
ate[s] the value of the component parts.” Lucent Techs.,
580 F.3d at 1336; Rite-Hite Corp. v. Kelley Co., 56 F.3d
1538, 1549-50 (Fed. Cir. 1995). This rule is derived from
Supreme Court precedent requiring that “the patentee . . .
must in every case give evidence tending to separate or
apportion the defendant’s profits and the patentee’s
damages between the patented feature and the unpat-
ented features, and such evidence must be reliable and
tangible, and not conjectural or speculative,” or show that
“the entire value of the whole machine, as a marketable
article, is properly and legally attributable to the pat-
ented feature.” Garretson v. Clark, 111 U.S. 120, 121
(1884). See also Lucent Techs., 580 F.3d at 1336-37
(tracing the origins of the entire market value to several
Supreme Court cases including Garretson).
Microsoft argues that Uniloc employed the entire
market value of Office and Windows by virtue of Gemini’s
pie chart, his comparison of his calculated royalty to the
total revenue Microsoft earns through the accused prod-
ucts, and Uniloc’s attorneys’ belittlement of Microsoft’s
expert’s royalty figure as representing only .0003% of
total revenue. Microsoft argues that Uniloc’s use of the
entire market value rule was not proper because it is
undisputed that Product Activation did not create the
basis for customer demand or substantially create the
value of the component parts. Microsoft continues that
Gemini’s testimony tainted the jury’s damages delibera-
tions, regardless of its categorization as a “check.”
49 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

Uniloc responds that: (1) Microsoft did not object at
trial and so waived any evidentiary argument to Gemini’s
testimony and demonstratives; (2) the entire market
value of the product can be used if the royalty rate is low
enough; and (3) the $19 billion figure was used only as a
“check,” and the jury was instructed not to base its dam-
ages determination on the entire market value, an in-
struction it should be presumed to have followed.
The district court agreed with Microsoft, and ordered
a conditional new trial on damages. It noted that “Uniloc
conceded customers do not buy Office or Windows because
of [Product Activation] and said it would not base a roy-
alty calculation on the entire market value of the prod-
ucts.” Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 184-85. As such, the
use of the entire market value of Office and Windows in
the form of the $19 billion figure was “irrelevant” and
“taint[ed]” the jury’s damages award. Id. at 185. The
district court also disagreed with Uniloc that Microsoft
had waived its arguments to the entire market value,
noting that “Microsoft objected specifically under the
entire market value rule to use of a demonstrative pie
chart,” and that “[t]he Court preliminarily allowed it but
after hearing the testimony instructed counsel to stay
away from the $19 billion figure.” Id.
This court agrees with Microsoft and the district court
that Uniloc’s use of the $19 billion “check” was improper
under the entire market value rule. First, regarding
Uniloc’s assertion that Microsoft has waived the issue,
this court will not second-guess the district court’s explicit
recognition of Microsoft’s objections to Gemini’s testi-
mony. FRE 103(a) notes that “Error may not be predi-
cated upon a ruling which admits or excludes evidence
unless . . . (1) Objection. – In case the ruling is one admit-
ting evidence, a timely objection or motion to strike ap-
pears of record . . . . Once the court makes a definitive
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 50

ruling on the record admitting or excluding evidence,
either at or before trial, a party need not renew an objec-
tion or offer of proof to preserve a claim of error for ap-
peal.” The district court here explicitly noted that
Microsoft’s objection fell into the exception at the last line
of FRE 103(a): “Although Microsoft did not continue to
repeat an objection, it made its position on this evidence
sufficiently clear to preserve the instant challenge” to
Gemini’s use of the entire market value rule. Uniloc II,
640 F. Supp. 2d at 184 n.43. This is supported by Micro-
soft’s in limine filings and Uniloc’s response, where Uniloc
explicitly said that it would not be relying on the entire
market value of the accused products. This court thus
agrees with the district court that Microsoft has not
waived its objection.
Uniloc argues that the entire market value of the
products may appropriately be admitted if the royalty
rate is low enough, relying on the following statement in
Lucent Technologies:
Simply put, the base used in a running
royalty calculation can always be the
value of the entire commercial embodi-
ment, as long as the magnitude of the rate
is within an acceptable range (as deter-
mined by the evidence). . . . Microsoft
surely would have little reason to com-
plain about the supposed application of
the entire market value rule had the jury
applied a royalty rate of .1% (instead of
8%) to the market price of the infringing
programs.”
580 F.3d at 1338-39. Just before this statement, however,
this court held that one of the flaws in the use of the
entire market value in that case was “the lack of evidence
51 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

demonstrating the patented method of the Day patent as
the basis—or even a substantial basis—of the consumer
demand for Outlook. . . . [t]he only reasonable conclusion
supported by the evidence is that the infringing use of the
date-picker tool in Outlook is but a very small component
of a much larger software program.” Id. at 1338. Thus, in
context, the passage relied on by Uniloc does not support
its position. The Supreme Court and this court’s prece-
dents do not allow consideration of the entire market
value of accused products for minor patent improvements
simply by asserting a low enough royalty rate. See Gar-
retson, 111 U.S. at 121; Lucent Techs., 580 F.3d at 1336
(“In one sense, our law on the entire market value rule is
quite clear. For the entire market value rule to apply, the
patentee must prove that the patent-related feature is the
basis for customer demand” (emphasis added, internal
citations omitted)); Rite-Hite, 56 F.3d at 1549 (same); Bose
Corp. v. JBL, Inc., 274 F.3d 1354, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2001)
(same); TWM Mfg. Co. v. Dura Corp., 789 F.2d 895, 901
(Fed. Cir. 1986) (“The entire market value rule allows for
the recovery of damages based on the value of an entire
apparatus containing several features, when the feature
patented constitutes the basis for customer demand.”).
This case provides a good example of the danger of
admitting consideration of the entire market value of the
accused where the patented component does not create
the basis for customer demand. As the district court aptly
noted, “[t]he $19 billion cat was never put back into the
bag even by Microsoft’s cross-examination of Mr. Gemini
and re-direct of Mr. Napper, and in spite of a final in-
struction that the jury may not award damages based on
Microsoft’s entire revenue from all the accused products
in the case.” Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 185. This is
unsurprising. The disclosure that a company has made
$19 billion dollars in revenue from an infringing product
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 52

cannot help but skew the damages horizon for the jury,
regardless of the contribution of the patented component
to this revenue. Uniloc exacerbated the situation in
colloquies like the following on cross-examination of
Microsoft’s damages expert, in which it implied a rela-
tionship between the entire market value of the accused
products and the patent:
Q [Uniloc]. You understand that there are
approximately $20 billion in sales of in-
fringing product, correct?
A [Napper]. That’s the calculation by Mr.
Gemini, yes, the entire market value of
those products.
Q. And you understand your lump-sum
max theory is $7 million?
A. Yes.
Q. And that would be an effective royalty
of approximately .000035%?
A. If one were inappropriately putting the
entire market value of the products, that’s
what it would result in.
Q. Uniloc invents it, correct?
A. They have a patent, yes.
Q. And under your theory, Microsoft goes
out and infringes a valid patent, right?
A. That’s my assumption.
Q. Under your theory, Microsoft brings in
billions in revenue and sales from the
sales of the infringing product, to wit, ap-
proximately 20, correct?
53 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

A. The entire market value of those prod-
ucts, that’s correct.
Q. And at the end of the day, the in-
fringer, Microsoft, who violated the patent
law, they get to keep 99.9999% of the box
and the inventor, whose patent they in-
fringed, he gets the privilege of keeping
.00003%?
A. When expressed as the entire market
value of the products, that’s correct.
Q. And that’s reasonable to you?
A. Yes.
This is in clear derogation of the entire market value rule,
because the entire market value of the accused products
has not been shown to be derived from the patented
contribution.
Uniloc’s final argument is that the use of the $19 bil-
lion figure was only as a check, and the jury must be
presumed to have followed the jury instruction and not
based its damages calculation on the entire market value
rule. This argument attempts to gloss over the purpose of
the check as lending legitimacy to the reasonableness of
Gemini’s $565 million damages calculation. Even if the
jury’s damages calculation was not based wholly on the
entire market value check, the award was supported in
part by the faulty foundation of the entire market value.
Moreover, Uniloc’s derision of Microsoft’s damages expert
by virtue of the .00003% of the entire market value that
his damages calculation represented may have inappro-
priately contributed to the jury’s rejection of his calcula-
tions. Thus, the fact that the entire market value was
brought in as only a “check” is of no moment.
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 54

For the foregoing reasons, this court concludes that
the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting a
conditional new trial on damages for Uniloc’s violation of
the entire market value rule.
3. Excessiveness of Damages
As an alternative ground for affirmance of the district
court’s alternative grant of a new trial on damages, Mi-
crosoft argues that the damages here were excessive.
Because this court is affirming the district court’s grant of
new trial on damages, and because the two bases on
which Uniloc’s damages case was built have both been
rejected, it would be premature to consider the excessive-
ness of damages that could arise on remand. This court
thus expresses no opinion on the excessiveness or reason-
ableness of the damages awarded by the jury.
D. Cross-Appeal
Microsoft also cross-appeals the district court’s denial
of its motion for JMOL of invalidity. Microsoft argues
that under Uniloc’s interpretation of the claim construc-
tion in its infringement case, claim 19 is invalid as antici-
pated or obvious over U.S. Patent No. 4,658,093 (“’093
reference”) titled, “Software Distribution System.”
Before this court addresses the merits, two procedural
issues must be addressed. First, Microsoft argues that its
burden for both the new trial and JMOL motions was to
show invalidity simply by a preponderance of the evi-
dence, because the ’093 reference was not before the PTO.
This argument is based on a statement in KSR Int’l Co. v.
Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 426 (2007) (“[T]he rationale
underlying the presumption—that the PTO, in its exper-
tise, has approved the claim—seems much diminished
here [where the allegedly invalidating prior art was not
before the patent office].”). Microsoft has made this
55 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

argument before, and we held that the statutory pre-
sumption of validity can be overcome only by showing
invalidity by clear and convincing evidence, even where
allegedly invalidating prior art was not before the patent
office. See i4i, 598 F.3d at 848, cert. granted 562 U.S. ---
(Nov. 29, 2010) (No. 10-290); Am. Hoist & Derrick Co. v.
Sowa & Sons, Inc., 725 F.2d 1350, 1359 (Fed. Cir. 1984).
Until changed by the Supreme Court or this court sitting
en banc, that is still the law.
Second, Microsoft argues that the district court’s
grant of a new trial extended to validity even though the
district court did not mention validity in the new trial
section of its opinion. See Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at
183-86. Microsoft failed to raise this issue in its motion
for a new trial, and this court finds no basis to conclude
that the district court implicitly decided the issue. The
issue is thus not before this court and we do not reach it.
Turning then to the merits. Microsoft frames its va-
lidity arguments as follows: if claim 19 reaches far enough
to read on Microsoft’s Product Activation, then it neces-
sarily extends far enough to read on the prior art ’093
reference. Thus, Microsoft uses Product Activation as a
proxy for the scope of claim 19 (under the assumption that
the jury verdict of infringement is upheld and Product
Activation infringes), and compares it to the ’093 refer-
ence. According to Microsoft, the prior art ’093 reference
discloses a software authorization process and system,
which generates an authorization code from the following
inputs: “a secret key identifier of the computer embodied
in the hardware (SK), a random or nonrepeating number
(R), the serial number, the software package name (H),
the number of uses (N), and user billing information.”
Uniloc II, 640 F. Supp. 2d at 181.
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 56

In the prior appeal, this court held that the licensee
unique ID must be “a unique identifier associated with a
licensee,” but one “that cannot be based solely on plat-
form-related user information.” Uniloc I, 290 Fed. App’x
at 343-44. The question in this appeal is whether no
reasonable jury could have concluded that the inputs to
the cryptographic hash function in the ’093 reference are
not sufficient to create an association with the licensee.
The focus of the dispute on appeal, just as below, is
whether random number R in the ’093 reference is
uniquely associated with a user. We think that it is not
and that the ’093 reference does not anticipate claim 19.
Uniloc argues that R is “platform-related” because it
is generated by the user’s computer. Microsoft argues
that “platform-related” must be narrower than “generated
by a computer,” otherwise it could not infringe because
the output of Product Activation (the PID) is also gener-
ated by a computer.
It is undisputed that R and SK, the only inputs that
Microsoft argues are associated with the user, are gener-
ated by the computer. 3 In the prior appeal, this court
noted that the licensee unique ID “cannot be based solely
on platform related user information.” Id. at 343. This
was based in part on Uniloc’s distinction made during
prosecution of the ’216 patent between its invention and a
prior art reference that “relie[d] for its security on a
machine identification code unique to the machine.” Id.
at 343-44. The number R in the ’093 reference does just
what the distinguished prior art does: whatever associa-
tion it creates does not identify the user, but rather it

3 The “user billing information” in the ‘093 ref-
erence is not an input into the hash function and is thus
irrelevant in determining whether the ‘093 reference
discloses the “licensee unique ID” and “licensee unique ID
generating means” elements of the ’216 patent.
57 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

identifies the machine. In other words, the R in the ’093
reference is platform-related, and thus cannot form the
basis of the association between the output of the crypto-
graphic hash function and the licensee. The same is true
for SK, which is based on a computer-generated serial
number.
Microsoft’s argument that R is not platform-related
though it is generated by a computer (without user input)
is unconvincing for two reasons. First, the proper frame-
work for challenging the validity of a patent is not for the
accused to show that it is practicing the prior art, but to
show that every element of the patent claims reads on a
single prior art reference. See Zenith Elecs. Corp. v. PDI
Comm. Sys., Inc., 522 F.3d 1348, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2008)
(“[M]ere proof that the prior art is identical, in all mate-
rial respects, to an allegedly infringing product cannot
constitute clear and convincing evidence of invalidity.
Anticipation requires a showing that each element of the
claim at issue, properly construed, is found in a single
prior art reference.”). Second, although the output of the
hash algorithm in Product Activation, the PID, is com-
puter generated, the information that is input into the
MD5 algorithm is associated with a user, in the form of
the product key provided by the vendor. This court has
held that it is reasonable to determine that such informa-
tion creates an association with the user. Uniloc I, 290
Fed. App’x at 343 n.4 (“The specification [of the ’216
patent] certainly does allow for the use of vendor-provided
information to generate a licensee unique ID.”). As noted,
supra section II.A.3, this court is bound by the first appeal
that inputs associated with the licensee are sufficient to
maintain the association in the output as well. See also
Uniloc I, 290 Fed. App’x at 344 (“Microsoft’s Product
Activation system inputs non-platform-related informa-
tion unique to a user, such as a Product Key, to generate
UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT 58

what might qualify as a licensee unique ID.”). Unlike the
PID, the output of the hash algorithm in the ’093 refer-
ence is “based solely on platform-related user informa-
tion,” see id. at 343, in the form of R and SK, neither of
which are “vendor-provided,” and both of which are gen-
erated by the user’s computer. The PID is thus distin-
guishable from the output of the hash algorithm in the
’093 reference, and a reasonable jury could have returned
a verdict that the ’093 reference does not disclose a “licen-
see unique ID” as required by claim 19 of the ’216 patent.
This court thus affirms the district court’s denial of JMOL
of invalidity based on anticipation.
Though obviousness is a question of law, this court
gives the jury its usual deference on the underlying
factual questions. What the prior art shows is a question
of fact. Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 17 (1966).
As discussed above, a reasonable jury could have found
that the ’093 reference failed to disclose a licensee unique
ID. Microsoft has presented no convincing argument for
why incorporating an input into the hash function that is
associated with a user would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art. This court thus affirms the
district court’s denial of JMOL of invalidity on the basis of
obviousness.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, this court reverses the dis-
trict court’s grant of JMOL of non-infringement, affirms
the district court’s grant of JMOL of no willfulness, af-
firms the district court’s grant of a new trial on damages,
vacates the district court’s grant of an alternative motion
for new trial on infringement, and affirms the district
court’s denial of JMOL of invalidity of claim 19 of the
’216. The case is remanded for proceedings consistent
with this opinion.
59 UNILOC USA v. MICROSOFT

AFFIRMED-IN-PART, REVERSED-IN-PART,
VACATED-IN-PART, and REMANDED

COSTS
Each party shall bear its own costs.