Agreed. This is a setback to immediate payoff probability.
But I wasn't figuring that we would see a non-laughable settlement offer before trial anyway.
We still have all of the non-disputed terms in the patent, and a few of the formerly disputed ones (not the strongest ones sadly), and the 'unknown and unknowable' factors involved when going into a jury trial.
And - as you point out - as long as the judge doesn't completely upset our applecart with a summary judgement,... we are not out of this fight yet.
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”
- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy