UPDATE: Wall St. reacts to Bard's $371M win against Gore | Legal News

February 10, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Updated Feb. 10, 2012, at 1:30 p.m. with share values and analysts' reactions.

A U.S. federal judge this week upheld C.R. Bard's (NYSE:BCR) win against W.L. Gore & Associates over vascular graft patents.

The court affirmed Bard's $371 million win from a 2007 decision when an Arizona jury found that Gore willfully infringed on patents for vascular tubing.

"This has been a long and arduous journey for the parties in this litigation, but this should be the final curtain of the saga," Circuit Court Judge Arthur Gajarsa of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit wrote in the decision.

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The news gave Bard a bump on The Street where shares were trading 2% higher at $94.36 around 1:30 p.m. today.

"Though not unexpected, this is a positive milestone for BCR," Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise wrote in a letter to shareholders. "Our understanding is that although Gore still has several possible levels of appeals, from a practical manner, the court's ruling today will likely be very much what the final ruling will look like."

Wise predicted an earnings upside of around $1.40 to $1.50 per share as a result of the ruling. With total damages and an ongoing royalty stream considered together, Bard stands to rake in about $783 million.

The decision was split 2 to 1 and Judge Gajarsa was rather candidly dismissive of the dissenting opinion:

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