Patent lawyers like to focus on the Halo decision because, just like the USPTO, patent activity makes them money (litigation, patent grants etc.) and the consequences of the activity does not matter to them. It doesn't even bother them when patent trolls take over portfolios and tax everyone (the externality).
"It doesn't even bother them when patent trolls take over portfolios and tax everyone (the externality)."According to some of the latest articles about Halo, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], one's position depends on one's interests/agenda. Battistelli's mouthpieces (IAM), for instance, say that SCOTUS "lowers bar for awarding enhanced damages for patent infringement", software patents lobbyists say that all is fine (even if it helps trolls, like those that fund IAM), Science|Business seemingly celebrates the decision, Forbes (i.e. the billionaires' rag) speaks in terms like "innovation", and patent lawyers call it "willful infringement".
Coinciding with the latest report/overview of SCOTUS cases (by Dennis Crouch) there is this article which says:
Finally, and on a related note: The Supreme Court’s statement that it’s the time of infringement that matters and not later is really unworkable and flawed. A defendant, for example, who finds another piece of prior art later, closer to trial, surely can rely upon that evidence (and/or opinion analyzing it) as (a) confirming the strength of an earlier opinion or (b) providing evidence that, from that time forward, its infringement was not “egregious”?