Masimo (NSDQ:MASI) this week won another round in its $467 million patent infringement war with Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) over pulse oximetry technology.
A federal judge in Delaware upheld last year’s $467 million judgment against Philips, denying the Dutch healthcare giant’s claim that Masimo lawyers withheld information from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
Masimo sued Philips in 2009 in the U.S. District Court for Delaware; Philips filed a counter-claim later that year. The companies are also litigating a 2nd infringement case brought by Masimo, which is also being heard in Delaware.
Last October, Philips reversed 13 years of denials and admitted to infringing a pair of Masimo patents, but argued that those patents were invalid and that Masimo infringed 1 of its pulse oximetry patents. A jury disagreed, denying the invalidity claims and finding that Masimo did not infringe the 3rd patent.
Writing May 18, Judge Leonard Stark denied Philips’ allegation of inequitable conduct on the part of 3 lawyers for Masimo, concluding that "there is no evidence of a deliberate decision by the accused Masimo attorneys (or anyone else) to withhold" information from the PTO [emphasis his].
"At most, the evidence gives rise to ‘multiple reasonable inferences,’ including that [the Masimo lawyers] were acting in good faith to disclose all that they could to the PTO. Furthermore, the record supports a strong inference that Masimo’s attorneys would have disclosed the [information] if they had understood its purported implications," Stark wrote. "In short, Philips has failed to prove that any of the accused Masimo attorneys made a misrepresentation to the PTO."
Stark also denied Philips’ motion for a new trial, denied Philips’ motion to lower the damages award, according to court documents, and ordered the companies to submit proposals for dealing with a stayed misuse claim by Philips.
"This ruling reaffirms Masimo’s innovative creation of measure-through-motion pulse oximetry that has dramatically improved patient care worldwide," Masimo founder & CEO Joe Kiani said in prepared remarks.