Integer wins $22m in damages from AVX pacer patent spat retrial

Integer Holdings (NYSE:ITGR), formerly known as Greatbatch, has been awarded approximately $22.2 million in damages in the retrial of a pacer tech patent spat with AVX, down from a previous award of $37.5 million, according to recently released court documents.

Integer originally filed a patent infringement complaint in April 2013, alleging that AVX infringed on patents related to the filtered feedthrough assemblies used in its implantable pacers and cardioverter defibrillators.

Integer was awarded $37.5 million in damages from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in January 2016. In the earlier trial, the jury upheld the validity of 2 asserted patents, and 2 additional patents that AVX had challenged.

Three months later, AVX won a bid for reconsideration which vacated a previous summary judgement in Integer’s favor and paved the way for another trial re-exploring whether AVX intentionally infringed on certain Integer patents with its Ingenio FFT devices.

During the next trial, which took place in 2017, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict as to whether the infringement from AVX’s Ingenio FFT devices was willful, according to court documents.

In response to the decision, AVX filed a motion for a new trial to assess damages that took into account the new court verdicts., which were granted in late March last year, according to court documents.

“In sum, because the $37.5 million damages award is based on the incorrect assumptions that all Ingenio FFTs infringe the ‘715 patent and that no non-infringing alternatives to the ‘715 and ‘627 patents exist, and because there is no way of knowing how the jury came to its lump sum award – basing its decision on a finding of infringement of one or a combination of the asserted patents and products – the award must be vacated and a new trial as to damages is necessary,” U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark wrote in court documents dated March 30, 2018. “Six factors weigh against enhancement (no deliberate copying, good faith belief of non-infringement, remedial action, short duration of infringement, closeness of case, and no motivation for harm), one factor weighs in favor of enhancement (attempt to conceal), and two factors are neutral (both parties were particularly litigious and AVX’s size and financial condition). Accordingly, the court concludes that an award of enhanced damages is not warranted. As the court has had two trials on the asserted patents and products and seen all of the evidence, it can make this finding even before a finding on willfulness.”

In the retrial, the court awarded Integer approximately $22.2 million in damages, according to court documents released this week.

The court granted approximately $10 million in damages for lost profits and sales related to infringement by AVX’s Frontier and Progeny devices, approximately $9.6 million for infringement by AVX’s Ingenio devices and approximately $2.5 million in damages for infringement by AVX’s NG3 devices, according to court documents.

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