Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) asked a federal court to enforce a ruling against Fresenius Medical Care AG (NYSE:FMS) that awarded Baxter more than $20 million for infringement of a dialysis patent.
"After eight years of litigation that included countless delay tactics by Fresenius to avoid
compensating Baxter for Fresenius’s patent infringement, Baxter can finally enforce this Court’s
judgment for past damages," Baxter’s lawyers wrote in a notice to the court. "Fresenius has avoided its obligation to pay Baxter the past damages award for far too long."
In November 2007, a jury siding with Baxter on the violation of a patent for dialysis machines with touch-screen interfaces awarded $14.3 million in damages, to which a district judge later added nearly $6 million in interest and costs. The award has already accrued about $2.7 million in interest.
The court also granted Baxter a 10 percent royalty on all machines sold before 2009, which could come to a vast sum as Fresenius allegedly sold billion of dollars worth, Law360.com reported.
Fresenius, which ranked 7th on the MassDevice Big 100 list of the world’s largest medical device companies (Baxter ranked 6th), attempted to take the case before the Supreme Court in April 2010, but was denied twice.
Baxter asked the court to enforce the 2008 ruling and make the judgement, interests and costs orders final so that it can pursue enforcement.
"Fresenius has finally run out of procedural games to avoid payment of the adverse judgment," Baxter lawyers wrote.