Dueling Damages Experts Rely on Hypothetical License Fees

In Oracle Corp. v. SAP AG, 07-01658, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Oracle’s damages expert (Paul Meyer) calculates SAP’s (admitted) copyright infringement cost the company $1.7 Billion, with a “B”, in foregone license fees.

Not surprisingly, SAP’s expert (Stephen Clarke) has come up with a lost profits estimate of $28 Million, with an “M,” again based on what they would have negotiated in a hypothetical license for the software in question.

Fortunately, the difference in the two estimates is not related to valuation theory, or approach, as that would not be a net positive for the industry. Rather the difference relates to what is counted … actual lost accounts which can be directly attributable to the copyright infringement, or an estimate of lost profits from all potentially impacted parties.