Reasonable royalties represent the lower estimate of damages in patent infringement cases. The determination of a reasonable royalty can be a very complicated calculation that can be based on as many as 16, which include:

1. Any royalties received by the licensor for the licensing of the patent-in-suit, proving or tending to prove an established royalty.

2. The rates paid by infringer to license other patents comparable to the patent-in-suit.

3. The nature and scope of the license, as exclusive or non-exclusive, or as restricted or non-restricted in terms of its territory or with respect to whom the manufactured product may be sold.

4. The licensor’s established policy and marketing program to maintain its right to exclude others from using the patented invention by not licensing others to use the invention, or by granting licenses under special conditions designed to preserve that exclusivity.

5. The commercial relationship between the licensor and the licensee, such as whether or not they are competitors in the same territory in the same line of business.

6. The effect of selling the patented product or method in promoting other sales of the licensee; the existing value of the invention to the licensor as a generator of sales of its non-patented items; and the extent of such collateral sales.

7. The duration of the term for the patent and the term of the license.

8. The established profitability of the product made under the patent-in-suit, its commercial success and its popularity.

9. The utility and advantages of the patented invention over the old modes or devices, if any, that had been used for achieving similar results.

10. The nature of the patented invention; the character of the commercial embodiment of it as owned and produced by or for the licensor; and the benefits to those who have used the invention.

11. The extent to which the infringer has made use of the invention and any evidence that shows the value of that use.

12. The portion of the profit or of the selling price that may be customary in the particular business or in comparable businesses to allow for the use of the invention or analogous inventions.

13. The portion of the profit that arises from the patented invention itself as opposed to profit arising from unpatented features, such as the manufacturing process, business risks, or significant features or improvements added by the accused infringer.

14. The opinion testimony of qualified experts.

15. The amount that a licensor and a licensee would have agreed upon (at the time the infringement began) if both sides had been reasonably and voluntarily trying to reach an agreement; that is, the amount that a prudent licensee — who desired, as a business proposition, to obtain a license to manufacture and sell a particular article embodying the patented invention — would have been willing to pay as a royalty and yet be able to make a reasonable profit and that the amount would have been acceptable by a patentee who was willing to grant a license.

16. Any other economic factor that a normally prudent business person would, under similar circumstances, take into consideration in negotiating the hypothetical license.

These factors are intended to reflect a royalty amount that a hypothetical licensor and a hypothetical licensee would agree to in absence of a patent-infringement lawsuit. The factors can be influenced heavily by prior licensing activity by the patent owner.

These factors are commonly referred to as the “Georgia-Pacific” factors due to the seminal case Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. United States Plywood Corp., 318 F. Supp. 1116 (S.D.N.Y. 1970).