The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to consider whether Stryker‘s (NYSE:SYK) $70 million patent infringement win over Zimmer Biomet (NYSE:ZBH) should be tripled, after a federal appeals court rolled back a willful infringement verdict last year.
The Supremes agreed to hear Stryker’s appeal of the December 2014 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which ruled that Stryker failed to prove willful infringement, striking down a lower court’s ruling that could have amounted to a $210 million hit for Warsaw, Ind.-based Zimmer.
Stryker sued orthopedics rival Zimmer in December 2010, alleging infringement of 3 patents covering wound debridement technology by Zimmer’s Pulsavac Plus device.
In February 2013 a jury in the U.S. District Court for Western Michigan awarded $70 million to Stryker in damages plus royalties, ruling that Zimmer infringed all 3 patents claimed in the suit. Judge Robert Jonker trebled the damages in August of that year, ruling that the infringement was willful and ordering a permanent injunction.
In addition to tripling the damage award, Jonker granted Stryker’s bid for lost profit damages, awarding another nearly $2.4 million. The judge also granted Stryker’s motion for prejudgment interest, awarding nearly $11.2 million, plus reasonable attorney’s fees and additional prejudgment interest on those fees at a rate of 3.83%.
The Federal Circuit overturned the willful infringement ruling, canceling the triple damages award and rolling back the award for attorney’s fees but upholding the rulings on infringement and validity.
Today the high court also agreed to hear another case on the same issue, in which Halo Electronics is seeking triple damages from Pulse Electronics for infringing patents relating to circuit board transformers.
Material from Reuters was used in this report.
