NCR Faces Uphill Battle in Federal Circuit Appeal Over $13M Patent Verdict

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$13M Patent Verdict Federal Circuit

NCR Corp. has a “tough burden” on its shoulders if it wants to prove that the evidence a jury relied on to deliver a $13 million jury verdict against the company for infringing two payment processing patents was not substantial enough, a Federal Circuit judge said Tuesday.

U.S. Circuit Judge Kara Farnandez Stoll is the one who delivered that message during oral arguments Tuesday morning after hearing NCR’s argument that the jury verdict was flawed because CloudofChange LLC’s expert didn’t add anything substantive in his rebuttal of NCR’s evidence against infringement.

“It’s not enough to go to the jury when all the plaintiff’s expert says is ‘I disagree,'” NCR’s lawyer told the panel. “That is not the kind of dispute that is properly put to a jury because there’s no substance behind the opposing expert that says ‘I disagree’ — they have to give reasons, and the court has repeatedly said conclusory statements are not substantial evidence.”

U.S. Circuit Judge Timothy B. Dyk wondered whether the panel would need to reach the company’s invalidity arguments if it sided with NCR on the matter of infringement. NCR assured the judge that the court would not need to.