A US District Court has awarded $268.1 million in damages against Cochlear Ltd as part of a patent infringement lawsuit filed by the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research and Advanced Bionics LLC, according to articles in Reuters and the Sydney Morning Herald.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, in 2014, a jury found Cochlear Ltd guilty of infringement on four counts against two process patents from Alfred E. Mann and Advanced Bionics and awarded the plantiffs $131 million in damages. In 2015, however, a judge invalidated three of the four patent claims and said that the remaining claim was not “willful.” A later appeal led to the US Court of Appeals deciding three of the four original claims were valid. The plaintiffs asked for increased damages for “continued post-2014 verdict infringements and Cochlear’s ‘willfulness’” according to the Sydney Morning Herald article.
Cochlear plans to appeal the decision as it says that the “infringement relates to a long-expired patent,” according to Reuters. The company expects a decision in about two years.
To read both articles in their entirety, please click here for the Reuters website and here for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Reuters
