Anodyne v. Klaas, Law, O'Meara & Malkin

During the late 1990s, Black & Decker's Snakelight product became the best-selling product in the company's 90-year history and won numerous industry design awards. Plaintiffs alleged that the defendant had been negligent and in breach of its duty to the plaintiffs by failing to properly prepare a patent application that would have covered the Snakelight product. The jury found for the plaintiffs on liability issues, and Analysis Group quantified the damages due. Had a proper patent been issued, we concluded, Black & Decker would have entered into a license agreement with the plaintiff covering the product. Working with the law firm Gorsuch Kirgis, Managing Principal John Jarosz examined historical company and industry profits and licensing practices, as well as the significance of the invention, and calculated a royalty fee of 5% of Black & Decker's revenues for the product, resulting in total damages of $15 million. The jury agreed that Black & Decker would have entered a license with a running royalty and awarded damages of roughly $10 million.