Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation v. Apple

In a patent infringement suit brought against Apple by Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), an Analysis Group team supported two affiliates in developing analyses and testimony to establish a damages estimate. WARF had alleged that certain iPhone and iPad models infringed a patent that provides for improvements in processor speed. The Analysis Group team, including Managing Principals T. Christopher Borek and Justin McLean, Principal Robert Vigil, Vice Presidents John Browning, and Ivan Maryanchyk, supported affiliates Christopher Knittel, George P. Shultz Professor and professor of applied economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Robert Blattberg, Timothy W. McGuire Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business and emeritus at Northwestern University. Professor Knittel, who testified at trial, used regression analysis to estimate the extent to which increases in processor speed increased the value of smartphones and tablets for consumers. Professor Blattberg analyzed Apple marketing and promotional activities and concluded that Apple's extensive promotion of the speed of its flagship iPhones and iPads was evidence of the importance of speed to smartphone and tablet consumers.