KW Economics prepares intellectual property damages analysis for partnership and shareholder dispute cases venued in Ohio: what the loss claim consists of, the records that drive it, and a present value built to Ohio damages rules and venues. Plaintiff and defense.
In an owner dispute the intellectual property question is usually who took what: a departing partner, member, or shareholder who used the company's trade secrets, customer information, or technology in a competing venture, or a controlling owner who moved the company's patents, marks, or software into an entity the owner holds separately. The economist measures the company's actual loss from the diverted sales and customers, the competing venture's profits attributable to the information, and, where those are hard to isolate, a reasonable royalty for the use, net of any overlap, and coordinates the measure with any valuation of an owner's interest, so the same lost earnings are not counted both as damages and as a reduction in the value of the interest.
Economic analysis and expert testimony on damages in patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret cases and in license and royalty disputes, for the patentee or the accused infringer and for either side of every other claim. The work measures each remedy the governing statute allows: a reasonable royalty and the patentee's lost profits, including price erosion, apportioned to the patented feature; the defendant's profits, the owner's actual damages, and corrective advertising in a trademark case; actual damages and the infringer's profits in a copyright case, where the infringer carries the burden of its deductible expenses and of the profit owed to other factors; and actual loss, unjust enrichment, or a reasonable royalty for a misappropriated trade secret.
The valuation date and the standard of value control the result: a fair value standard may exclude the minority and marketability discounts that a fair market value standard applies, and the gap between the two can be substantial for a minority interest in a closely held company. Normalizing adjustments to owner compensation and related-party dealings often decide whether the business shows earnings to value at all. Where the claim includes diverted profits, the amount depends on how far back the records permit reconstruction and on whether the business's actual results can be separated from market conditions.
Ohio courts ask whether an expert opinion rests on reliable principles and methods, whether the economist is qualified by training and experience, and whether the method was applied reliably to the facts of the case, with the trial judge acting as gatekeeper. A damages report meets that inquiry by naming the published source behind every assumption and tying each to the record.
Highest court: Supreme Court of Ohio. Court system: ohiocourts.gov.
Federal venues: Northern District of Ohio, Southern District of Ohio.
Ohio reduces a negligence-based award by the plaintiff's share of fault and bars recovery once that share exceeds the combined fault of the defendants. Interest on a sum due under a contract runs from the date it became due, while prejudgment interest in tort turns on a finding that the losing party failed to make a good-faith effort to settle. Statutory limits apply to noneconomic damages in most tort claims while economic damages are unlimited, so the economist's figure enters the case at its full present value, stated as of a fixed date.
We issue the final report on the disclosure schedule and provide deposition and trial testimony, critique of the opposing damages analysis, and updated calculations as the court construes any patent claims and the record develops.
In an owner dispute the intellectual property question is usually who took what: a departing partner, member, or shareholder who used the company's trade secrets, customer information, or technology in a competing venture, or a controlling owner who moved the company's patents, marks, or software into an entity the owner holds separately. The economist measures the company's actual loss from the diverted sales and customers, the competing venture's profits attributable to the information, and, where those are hard to isolate, a reasonable royalty for the use, net of any overlap, and coordinates the measure with any valuation of an owner's interest, so the same lost earnings are not counted both as damages and as a reduction in the value of the interest.
Ohio courts ask whether an expert opinion rests on reliable principles and methods, whether the economist is qualified by training and experience, and whether the method was applied reliably to the facts of the case, with the trial judge acting as gatekeeper. A damages report meets that inquiry by naming the published source behind every assumption and tying each to the record. Partnership and Shareholder Dispute cases venued in Ohio are heard in the Court of Common Pleas (General jurisdiction; civil cases above the municipal court threshold, felonies; four divisions: General, Domestic, Probate, Juvenile) and the Court of Claims (Claims against the State of Ohio), with final appeals to the Supreme Court of Ohio. Matters within federal jurisdiction proceed in the Northern District of Ohio and Southern District of Ohio.
Ohio reduces a negligence-based award by the plaintiff's share of fault and bars recovery once that share exceeds the combined fault of the defendants. Interest on a sum due under a contract runs from the date it became due, while prejudgment interest in tort turns on a finding that the losing party failed to make a good-faith effort to settle. Statutory limits apply to noneconomic damages in most tort claims while economic damages are unlimited, so the economist's figure enters the case at its full present value, stated as of a fixed date. The report presents past and future amounts separately, states every rate and table with its source, and shows the result under the alternatives the other side is likely to argue, so counsel can apply the Ohio rules to a documented figure.
Request a consultation on IP Damages or call (201) 343-0700. Plaintiff and defense counsel.