Atmel Corp. v. Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.

ORDER RE: PRE-JUDGMENT INTEREST, ENHANCED DAMAGES AND ATTORNEY FEES

I. INTRODUCTION

On April 26, 2002, a jury awarded Plaintiff Atmel Corporation (“Atmel”) $19,969,640 in compensatory damages in its patent infringement lawsuit against Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (“SST”). Now before the Court is the issue of prejudgment interest, Atmel’s request that its damages be enhanced to reflect the jury’s willful infringement finding and Atmel’s attorney fees demand. For the reasons discussed more fully below, the Court awards Atmel pre-judgment interest in the amount of $9,415,758 and willfulness damages in the amount of $7,092,360. The Court denies Atmel’s request for attorney fees.

II. BACKGROUND

The jury awarded two kinds of damages — price erosion and a reasonable royalty — each distributed over two different time periods. For the period beginning September 12, 1994 until March 1998, the jury awarded Atmel $4,184,720 in reasonable royalties and $10 million in price erosion damages, totaling $14,184,720 for the period. For the period beginning March 1998 until the infringement ended, the jury awarded Atmel $5,384,920 in reasonable royalties and $400,000 in price erosion damages,…