Zimmer Faces Quarter-Billion-Dollar Patent Lawsuit Verdict

A federal judge has ordered Zimmer to pay $228 million to Stryker as part of a patent infringement lawsuit. Zimmer is also barred from selling a disputed device.

The Pulsavac Plus by Zimmer is designed to remove organic debris from inside a patient during orthopedic surgeries. However, Stryker alleges that the device infringes on three of its patents. In February of this year, a jury in Michigan swung in favor of Stryker, ruling that the company engaged in willful patent infringement when it created its Pulsavac Plus. At first, Zimmer was only forced to pay out $70 million. However, the jury verdict in February left a way for Judge Robert Jonker of the U.S. District Court to increase the penalty.

This past week, Jonker noted that while a "$70 million verdict sounds large in the abstract," he chose to increase it 300 "given the one-sidedness of the case and the flagrancy and scope of Zimmer's infringement."

For its part, Zimmer will appeal the $228 million verdict. Following the earlier verdict in February, the company made alterations to the design of its Pulsavac Plus that should put it outside the scope of the injunction.

The $228 million verdict was reached by Jonker after a few simple calculations. First, Jonker tripled the initial $70 million verdict. In addition, Jonker added on $11 million in legal fees and interest and an additional $7 million to cover sales of the device that were were not included as part of the verdict.