Metso win patent infringement lawsuit in the US

Court awards damages to Metso but Terex plan to appeal against judgment and related injunction

METSO have won a patent infringement lawsuit against Terex Corporation, their subsidiary Powerscreen International Distribution and two of their dealers in the US.

On 9 December, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York affirmed the jury’s verdict of 6 December 2010 that the defendants had willfully infringed Metso’s US patent relating to mobile crushing and screening machines.

The court doubled the original damages award to US$31.6 million covering the infringing sales from March 2000 to October 2007. In addition, the defendants will have to pay for additional compensation covering infringing sales after October 2007, which will be accounted for later and also doubled. The final compensation for Metso will also include interest.

In July 2011, the court issued an order permanently barring the defendants from marketing the mobile screening machines that were found to be infringing Metso’s patents.

In response to the latest ruling, Terex Corporation said the judgment was contrary to both the law and the facts, and the company would be appealing both the judgment and the related injunction.

They added that models with the alleged infringing folding side conveyor design had been updated with Powerscreen’s new proprietary S range of conveyors, and therefore the judgment and injunction did not affect the continued use of any Powerscreen mobile screeners currently in operation in the US, the sales of any mobile screeners outside the US, or the sale of any screening plants sold by Powerscreen in the US or elsewhere.