Eurocopter v. Bell Helicopter trial decision

The Federal Court released a decision earlier this week after the trial in the patent infringement action Eurocopter v. Bell Helicopter, 2012 FC 113 finding a claim of the patent valid and infringed. The Court also awarded punitive damages.

The decision is available as 2012 FC 113 on the Federal Court Website.

The case T-737-08, started in May 2008, related to a landing gear patent CA2,207,787. According to an AFP article about Justice Martineau’s decision:

He also held in awarding punitive damages that Bell’s conduct in the case was “highly reprehensible” and constituted a “callous disregard” for Eurocopter’s patent rights. The amount of the damages has not yet been determined.

The quantum of damages, including punitive damages will be determined at a reference.

I will update the post with a link to the Federal Court website version of the decision when it is available.

Thanks to Adam Mizera of Robic and the blog C’est é-p@tent! for alerting me of this decision.

[Update Feb 7: Provided a link to the FC website version of the decision.]