A U.S. federal court has ruled in favor of Siemens Healthcare in a patent dispute with Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, on February 24 issued a decision that affirmed and amended a 2008 district court decision stating that Saint-Gobain infringed on a crystal patent held by Siemens.
The court ruled that damages awarded to Siemens three years ago may not be enough. It asked the district court to "consider a reasonable royalty for the additional 18 infringing scanners, to be added to the $44,937,545 in lost profits for the 61 scanners that were sold."
At issue are Siemens' patent rights for the lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) crystal technology in the company's PET scanners. Siemens initially filed the suit in 2007, alleging that Saint-Gobain sold the LSO crystal technology to Philips Healthcare, which was used in 61 Philips PET/CT systems.
The U.S. Court of Appeals found that the district court should have included damages for 18 additional scanners manufactured before the patent expired.
