4DD Holdings, LLC v. United States (Fed. Cir., July 16, 2026) 2024-1996

This episode concerns an opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit addressing a copyright infringement dispute between 4DD Holdings and the federal government. While the court agreed that damages should be determined through a hypothetical negotiation rather than strict adherence to previous license rates, it found several errors in how the lower court calculated the award. Specifically, the appellate court ruled that the trial judge improperly used the "book of wisdom" doctrine by considering the government’s eventual cancellation of the project—an unpredictable future event—to devalue the software during the negotiation phase. Additionally, the court found it was legally impermissible to assess punitive-style statutory damages for willful infringement against the government under the governing statute. Consequently, the court vacated the $12.6 million judgment in part and sent the case back for a more accurate reassessment of the compensation owed to the software developers.

This podcast is for entertainment purposes only and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The AI-generated hosts are not attorneys and are not providing legal advice. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.