After years of litigation, the stage is set for Dow Chemical to receive a massive payout from a patent infringement case.
Last week a federal judge in Canada created a formula that Dow can use to calculate damages from a suit it won against Nova Chemicals Corp. According to the ruling, Dow will be able to claim an award from an estimated $1 billion in revenue Nova earned using Dow’s patent.
The case involves patent 2,160,705, which Nova used to make a line of polymers found in thin plastic products including food packaging and garbage bags. Nova sold the polymers under a line called “SURPASS.”
Dow’s case against Nova has been ongoing since 2014, when an initial court trial concluded that Nova indeed infringed on Dow’s patent. A federal court of appeals upheld the ruling in 2016 and last week, the Supreme Court of Canada opted to dismiss another appeals attempt from Nova.
A lawyer representing Dow called the case the most “complex and interesting case” he has been involved in after 25 years of working on patent suits.
Accountants from both companies are now working to calculate Dow’s exact award using the judge’s formula. The approach factors in both the $1 billion in sales as well as the time during which Nova sold the polymer products.
Dow’s lawyer said that the way the judge calculated the formula, it could result in the largest patent infringement award ever seen in Canada.