[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in two sets of cases, involving patent infringement damages and energy preemption, respectively. The first set, Stryker Corp. v. Zimmer and Halo Electronics, Inc. v. Pulse Electronics, Inc. [dockets] involves the application of a rigid two-part test to assess damages in a patent infringement case under 35 USC § 284 [text]. In both cases, the appealing party asserts that Octane Fitness, LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, Inc. [opinion, PDF] should rule, in which the court rejected a similar rigid two-part test for assessment of attorneys fees under 35 USC § 285 [text]. The cases will be argued together but are not yet scheduled for argument.

The other set of cases involves the relation between federal and state governments and the price of electricity. In Nazarian v. PPL EnergyPlus and CPV Maryland, LLC v. PPL EnergyPlus [dockets], the court will assess the interplay of a state system that subsidizes local utilities and the impact that has on wholesale federal pricing. Specifically, the court will decide if this practice violates the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) power to set interstate wholesale energy rates. These cases come in the wake of argument [JURIST report] Wednesday between the FERC and state and local governments about setting energy rates on the retail and wholesale levels.