Supreme Court to Hear Bids to Thwart Triple Damages in Patent Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether a $70 million jury award that Stryker Corp. won against Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. for patent infringement should be tripled.

The justices agreed to hear an appeal filed by Stryker after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said last December that the award should not be tripled. The court said Stryker had failed to show that the infringement of its patents for a surgical cleaning wand was willful.

The court also agreed to hear another case on the same issue in which Halo Electronics Inc. is seeking triple damages from Pulse Electronics Corp. for infringing its patents