Arlington Industries Inc., a manufacturer electrical and communications products, announced the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania entered final judgement in its favour in a patent infringement and breach of contract suit against Bridgeport Fittings Inc.

According to Arlington, a jury had previously awarded Arlington nearly
$2.8 million in lost profits for Bridgeport’s sale of 30 Whipper-Snap
products adjudged to infringe Arlington’s U.S. Patent No. 5,266,050, and
for breach of the Settlement Agreement entered into by the parties in
2004. In its 29 March 2010 order, the court increased Arlington’s
damages to nearly $3.6 million. The court also denied Bridgeport’s
motion to stay the judgment pending appeal without having to post a
bond. Instead, the court ordered Bridgeport to post a bond in the amount
of $895,000 to stay the damages award, which is only 25% of the total
damages award (because the court determined that requiring Bridgeport to
post a bond in the full amount would cause it financial hardship).

Earlier, the same court granted a permanent injunction in Arlington’s
favour prohibiting Bridgeport from selling its infringing products. The
court agreed to stay this injunction pending Bridgeport’s appeal upon
Bridgeport’s posting of a bond in the amount of $720,000. (Should the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirm the jury verdict in
favour of Arlington, Bridgeport will be prevented from selling its
infringing Whipper-Snap products until the expiration of the patent. The
patent covers Arlington’s Snap-Tite connectors and does not expire
until December 2011.)

CLICK HERE for Arlington Industries.

CLICK HERE for Bridgeport.