Court Orders Two Plastic Pipe Fitting Manufacturers To Pay Over Six and Half Million Dollars In Damages To Individual Inventor

Editors: John Sganga, Joseph Cianfrani and Boris Zelkind

Judgments and Awards

On August 15, 2017, a federal court in Illinois resolved a damages and fees dispute in a patent infringement case that had raged for nearly eleven years. R-BOC Representatives, Inc. (R-BOC) and Dura-Line Corporation (Dura-Line) were both found to infringe Mr. Minemyer’s patent on plastic pipe couplers (designed to join to pieces of pipe), and both were permanently enjoined from selling infringing couplers. R-BOC violated the injunction and was found in contempt. The court found that Mr. Minemyer’s was entitled to lost profits of over $1.5 Million and trebled that amount because the case was exceptional. The court also granted Mr. Minemyer attorney fees, pre-judgment interest, and costs for a total of over $6.5 Million payable by both defendants together. The court determined that Dura-Line was liable for a maximum of almost $4 Million of the total award, while R-Boc could be liable for the entire award, because R-Boc had continued their infringement after the courts prior order.