NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – A German court has ruled in favor of Agilent Technologies in a patent infringement case against Waters dating back to 2005, Waters disclosed in its Form 10-K.
In its document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission recently, Waters said that the German Federal Court of Justice ruled in Agilent's favor in December 2012. As a result, Waters recorded a $4 million provision for damages and fees estimated to be incurred related to the case.
In 2005 Agilent sued Waters in Germany saying certain features of Waters' Alliance pump infringed patents held by Agilent. After a German court ruled Waters did not infringe the patents in 2006, Agilent appealed the decision. The appeals court affirmed the finding of the trial court in 2008, Waters said in its SEC document.
Agilent then appealed that decision to the German Federal Court of Justice, the highest appeals court in Germany for civil and criminal cases, which ruled in Agilent's favor.
Agilent also sued Waters over the same patent in the UK and France. The UK case was settled in 2006. The status of the French case was unclear on deadline.