7 U.S.C. § 2564
Section 2564 · Damages
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker (2008)
Most recently applied in FDIC v. Chicago Title Insurance Compa (August 2021)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Upon finding an infringement the court shall award damages adequate to compensate for the infringement but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the variety by the infringer, together with interest and costs as fixed by the court.
(b) When the damages are not determined by the jury, the court shall determine them. In either event the court may increase the damages up to three times the amount determined.
(c) The court may receive expert testimony as an aid to the determination of damages or of what royalty would be reasonable under the circumstances.
(d) As to infringement prior to, or resulting from a planting prior to, issuance of a certificate for the infringed variety, a court finding the infringer to have established innocent intentions, shall have discretion as to awarding damages.