Five things to know:
1. In December 2010, Stryker sued Zimmer Biomet in the U.S. District Court for Western Michigan, alleging that Zimmer infringed on three wound debridement technology patents with Zimmer’s Pulsavac Plus device.
2. In February 2013, a jury awarded Stryker $70 million; Judge Robert Jonker trebled the damages in August 2013.
3. In 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rolled back the $228 million ruling, claiming that Stryker failed to prove willful infringement. Stryker appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which vacated the appeals court’s ruling and ordered it to reconsider the case.
4. In December 2018, the Federal Circuit upheld the treble damages in the case, based on a Supreme Court decision in Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics that relaxed the standard for enhanced damage awards in patent infringement cases.
5. Zimmer Biomet appealed that decision, asking for a three-judge panel and the entire Federal Circuit bench to re-evaluate the case. The court denied both petitions March 19 and set March 26 as the date for issuing the court mandate.
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