Interactive Tool
Patent Infringement Damages Estimator
Use this tool to generate a preliminary estimate of potential patent infringement damages. The calculation is based on the reasonable royalty framework under 35 U.S.C. § 284 and informed by the 15 Georgia-Pacific factors.
How Patent Damages Are Calculated
Under U.S. patent law, a prevailing patent holder is entitled to damages “adequate to compensate for the infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty.” Courts typically use two primary frameworks:
Lost Profits
Requires proving demand, absence of alternatives, capacity to exploit, and quantifiable profit (the Panduit test). Often yields higher damages but is harder to prove.
Reasonable Royalty
The statutory floor for damages. Determined by the hypothetical negotiation framework using 15 Georgia-Pacific factors, including existing royalty rates, profit margins, and the patent's contribution.
The 15 Georgia-Pacific Factors
Established in Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. United States Plywood Corp. (1970), these factors guide courts in determining a reasonable royalty rate:
- Royalties received by the patentee for licensing the patent-in-suit
- Rates paid by the licensee for comparable patents
- Nature and scope of the license (exclusive vs. non-exclusive)
- Licensor's established policy for maintaining patent monopoly
- Commercial relationship between licensor and licensee
- Effect of selling the patented specialty on the licensee's non-patented items
- Duration of the patent and term of the license
- Established profitability, commercial success, and market demand
- Utility and advantages of the patent over prior art
- Nature of the patented invention and its commercial embodiment
- Extent to which the infringer used the invention
- Customary profit in the specific industry
- Portion of realizable profit attributable to the invention
- Opinions of qualified experts
- Amount that a willing licensor and licensee would agree upon
Willful Infringement & Treble Damages
Under 35 U.S.C. § 284, courts have discretion to enhance damages up to three times the compensatory amount when infringement is found to be willful. Following the Supreme Court's decision in Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics(2016), willfulness is evaluated under a totality-of-the-circumstances standard, considering the infringer's knowledge, subjective good faith, and efforts to design around.