C.R. Bard ($BCR) won the latest round in a 10-year legal battle against W.L. Gore & Associates when the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Gore in a patent lawsuit over vascular grafts.
The dispute, which dates back to the 1970s, already netted Bard $185 million, a previous jury's verdict left intact by the Supreme Court. But that's only part of the $900 million potential award Bard stood to gain as of September, according to a Bloomberg report.
The device in question is Bard's vascular stent graft made with a polymer material that Gore has argued one of its engineers helped invent--an argument the court rejected. The substance, which Gore uses for developing both fabrics and surgical devices, is currently under Bard's patent as ruled by an Arizona trial judge.
At stake in this dispute is not only the valuable fluoropolymer associated with Gore's success in fabrics but also Gore's foothold in the medical devices industry. Bard, on the other hand, is looking to protect its dominance in the market, threatened by the decades-long alleged infringement.
Bard v. Gore continues in Arizona, with Gore seeking a new trial while Bard looks to collect the rest of the $900 million.
Bard leapt ahead in the market Monday after the decision, its stock rising 1.5% before settling below for the day by 0.4%.
- read the Bloomberg story