Patent Verdicts

Patent verdicts are the verdicts or decision hand out on a patent-related case. There are different Patent verdicts released on various patent-related cases filed in court. Some of these patent verdicts are controversial because of the nature of the cases.

One of the recent patent verdicts handed down was regarding Hitachi Group and Translogic Technology Inc.'s patent claim. Hitachi Group denied violating Translogic Technology Inc.'s patent claim, and said it would appeal a U.S. court ruling if the court orders a damage award. A federal jury in Portland, Ore., in the patent verdicts awarded Translogic $86.5 million in damages. The award is part of a long dispute since Translogic first filed suit in March 1999 claiming that Hitachi infringed its U.S. patent on a transmission gate multiplexer patent used in Hitachi's SH processors. Hitachi has since turn off its semiconductor business to form Renesas Technology Inc. with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. Renesas took over Hitachi's business, hence Hitachi and Renesas are both defendants in the patent case.
Hitachi regretted the jury patent verdicts before the U.S. patent office determines the validity of Translogic's patent claim.
Some of other patent verdicts include the following:

Kimberly-Clark v. Tyco/Kendall
In November, 1999 Fish & Richardson received patent verdicts to their favor when they successfully defended Tyco/Kendall in a patent infringement case brought by Kimberly-Clark. The patents involved the chemical nature and properties of a barrier cuff in disposable diapers. Court patent verdicts ruled in favor of Tyco/Kendall on every claim issue.

Alcide Corp. v. Ecolab
Another one of the patent verdicts occurred in October, 1999 when Fish & Richardson successfully defended Ecolab of St. Paul, Minnesota and Advanced Bovine Sciences Global (ABS Global) of Madison, Wisconsin in a patent infringement suit brought by Alcide Corp. of Seattle with respect to Alcide's U.S. patent on a gelled teat dip to prevent bovine mastitis in cow udders.
United States Surgical Corp. v. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 2965 (Fed. Cir. 1995): Patent verdicts affirm the trial court's judgment that US Surgical Corp. did not infringe a competitor's patents on instruments for use in endoscopic surgery. This case was designated by the National Law Journal as one of the top ten defense patent verdicts of the year.
Alloc, Inc. v. U.S. International Trade Comm'n, 342 F.3d 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2003): Patent verdicts affirmed an ITC finding that Alloc., Inc. clients did not infringe a competitor's patents on flooring panels.