Determining Enhanced Damages After \u3ci\u3eHalo Electronics\u3c/i\u3e: Still a Struggle?

35 U.S.C. § 284 of the Patent Act allows district courts to use their discretion to award enhanced damages up to three times the amount found or assessed in the case of patent infringement. This Comment will consider how the Supreme court of the United States’ holding in Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse electronics, Inc. changed the landscape of enhanced damages awards in light of willful infringement. First, this Comment will examine the Federal Circuit’s approach that now embraces both an objective and subjective inquiry in determining enhanced damages, which may resolve the concern over the rigidity in the Seagate test that the Supreme court expressed in Halo. second, this Comment will examine how district courts address the question that remains after Halo: what conduct warrants enhanced damages. A split appears to be developing between district courts that have adopted Read Corporation v. Portec, Inc. (the “Read factors) and those rejecting Read that are consistent with the Supreme Court’s Halo decision. Finally, this Comment will end with an assessment of what is the appropriate test to discuss enhanced damages going forward