Court sides with Nidek in patent dispute with Alcon

A federal court upheld a ruling that Nidek did not infringe upon two patents owned by Alcon, both companies announced in separate releases.

According to Nidek, a district court in Massachusetts initially ruled in favor of Summit Technologies (now Alcon) and granted Alcon a damage award of $17.2 million. The jury verdict was overturned as “legally insufficient on a number of grounds,” according to Nidek. In late December 2002, the judge in the case found “no reasonable jury, having considered all of the evidence in the light most favorable to Summit” could have found Nidek to have infringed upon the patents.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgement. In the decision the court noted that the lower court, “in a careful and comprehensive analysis, correctly found that Summit failed to present more than a mere scintilla of evidence to support the jury’s verdict that Nidek infringed any of the asserted claims.”

In its press release, Alcon said the company was “disappointed with the appellate court’s conclusion,” but will not pursue further appeal.