Applera Corporation, et. al. v. Micromass UK Ltd.
Economic Advice in Litigation
The Situation
In 1999, Applera Corporation (formerly Perkin-Elmer Corp.), MDS Inc., and Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex (a joint venture of MDS and an Applera affiliate) filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware alleging that a mass spectrometer system made and sold by Micromass UK Ltd. and Micromass Inc. infringed an MDS patent. NERA was retained by counsel for the plaintiffs to calculate the damages caused by the alleged infringement.
NERA's Role
The case was tried starting on March 4, 2002. A NERA economist testified that the infringement cost the plaintiffs $48.8 million in lost profits and price erosion and proposed a $3.5 million royalty on the remaining infringing sales, for a total of $52.3 million. The defendants' expert testified that a royalty of $1.2 million (and no lost-profits or price-erosion damages) would be adequate compensation for the infringement.
The Result
On March 15, 2002, a Wilmington, Delaware jury concluded that the patent was valid and infringed and awarded NERA's clients $47.5 million in damages.
