The OPLA Board of Directors welcomes members to attend a CLE exploring How District Courts Adjudicate Willful Infringement & Enhanced Damages, presented by Prof. Karen Sandrik. Details of the event are below. 

OPLA PRESENTS: Professor Karen Sandrik, How District Courts Adjudicate Willful Infringement & Enhanced Damages 

When: Tuesday, November 9, 2021 (noon to 1pm)

Where:  Zoom Link To Be Sent Prior To Event

1 Hour General CLE Credit

Pulling from an original dataset spanning 2010-2020, Prof. Karen Sandrik will discuss three key impacts of the 2016 Supreme Court decision Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics on willfulness findings. Since Halo, (1) willfulness findings have increased by 27.8%; (2) enhanced damages findings have increased by 8.7%; and (3) judges are significantly more likely to find willfulness (representing an 18.6% increase in willfulness findings). Beyond hearing about empirical statistics illustrating the impact of Halo, come learn how district courts talk about the willfulness standard and what factors negate an award of enhanced damages despite a finding of willfulness. 

Prof. Sandrik's research focuses on the intersection of commercial law and intellectual property law. Most recently, her writing seeks to address problems within patent law, specifically patent licensing, patent damages, and innovation incentives, by employing the lens of contract law and the Uniform Commercial Code. Prof. Sandrik's teaching reflects this research interest. She teaches contracts, secured transactions, sales, deals, IP law, patent law, and IP transfer and commercialization. In addition to her teaching and research, Prof. Sandrik is Co-Director of the Business Lawyering Institute and Director of the Certificate Program in Law and Business. https://willamette.edu/law/faculty/profiles/sandrik/index.html