May 31, 2012 - French company Cie. de Saint-Gobain SA, Europe's largest supplier of building materials, will have to pay Siemens Medical Solutions USA $44.9 million (and possibly more) for patent infringement following a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Saint-Gobain, which makes crystals for use in positron emission tomography (PET) scan products made by Phillips Medical Systems, was sued by Siemens in 2007. The jury found for Siemens, and Saint-Gobain appealed (CAFC) - which upheld the jury award and said the trial court should have included an award of royalties on another 18 scanners in addition to the 61 that Siemens' lawsuit alleged were infringing its patent.
Saint-Gobain appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which upheld the CAFC's ruling partly at the Obama administration's urging that the court use the "preponderance of evidence" standard for deciding whether infringement had occurred rather than the "clear and convincing" standard Saint-Gobain had argued for.