What happened in Rex Medical v. Intuitive Surgical?

CAFC affirmed excluding Rex's damages expert, slashing $10M jury award to $1, while upholding infringement and validity findings.

Why was the damages expert excluded?

Douglas Kidder failed to apportion value from a multi-patent Covidien license to just the asserted patents, ignoring foreign patents and others.

Yes—it stresses rigorous apportionment for portfolio licenses, echoing Apple v. Wi-LAN; expect tighter scrutiny in tech and medtech cases.

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A $10 million jury verdict? Poof—down to $1. The CAFC just reminded patentees that fuzzy damages experts won't cut it anymore.

theAIcatchup Apr 09, 2026 4 min read

CAFC upheld exclusion of damages expert for failing to apportion multi-patent license value. 𝕏
Jury's $10M award reduced to $1 nominal damages; no new trial. 𝕏
Precedent reinforces Daubert gatekeeping, demanding real math over assumptions in royalty calculations. 𝕏

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#CAFC decision #Rex Medical Intuitive Surgical #expert testimony exclusion #patent damages

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Originally reported by IPWatchdog