AP Racing Ltd v Alcon Components Ltd
Decision date: 28 January 2016
Neutral citation: [2016] EWHC 116 (IPEC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
This is the damages inquiry after the Court of Appeal restored validity of AP Racing’s UK patent and ordered account or inquiry against Alcon for infringing calipers supplied via BPI. The court rejected Alcon’s s.69(3) defence (because the relied external search material was not admitted and citation of prior art did not necessarily show no reasonable expectation of grant), found 735 relevant infringing calipers, awarded lost profits on those calipers (£217,928) and convoyed‑goods profits (£276,636), and declined a user‑principle royalty for other sales, giving total damages of £494,564 (plus interest to be fixed).
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: medium
From the judgment as recorded in the notes: in an IPEC damages inquiry a defendant’s reliance on external search reports can be excluded if admitting them would fail the court’s cost/benefit test under the IPEC/CPR regime; lost profits may be assessed using a pleaded and supported average profit margin rather than highly granular model‑by‑model analysis; and convoyed‑goods damages require objective evidence of a causal link in the purchaser’s mind between the infringing product and the additional purchases.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The court expressed scepticism (obiter) that mere citation of prior art against a claim necessarily shows a skilled person would not reasonably expect that claim to be granted, and commented that market definition for lost‑sales should reflect the purchaser’s real‑world decision (here, teams choosing higher‑performance structurally‑optimised calipers).