I will never again question the wisdom of the tired saying: Everything is bigger in Texas.
Abbott Labs just got slapped — and I mean slapped to the freaking moon — by an East Texas jury with the largest patent verdict ever: $1.67 billion, Bloomberg reports.
The winner: a division of rival drug company Johnson & Johnson called Centocor Ortho Biotech and its lawyers from Philly's Woodcock Washburn and the Texas firm Sayles Werbner. The big-time losers: the famed — at least before today — IP lawyers at WilmerHale.
The jury found that Abbott willfully infringed on J&J’s IP with its popular arthritis medication called Humira. The jury awarded $1.17 billion in lost profits and $504 million in royalties to J&J. Maybe Abbott should’ve bought a cow?
The previous record-holder was a $1.52 billion award against Microsoft in a patent suit with Alcatel-Lucent, which has since been overturned.
— Zusha Elinson
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