INNOGENETICS ANNOUNCES $7 MILLION JURY AWARD IN PATENT RULING AGAINST ABBOTT

Innogenetics, a maker of diagnostics and therapeutic vaccines, announced Sept. 8 it had been awarded $7 million for "willful" patent infringement by Abbott Laboratories.

A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin unanimously found Abbott had willfully infringed on Innogenetics' '704 patent, which covers a method of genotyping the hepatitis C virus, Innogenetics said.

The verdict follows a Sept. 2 jury decision in favor of Innogenetics and directs Abbott to pay the firm $7 million for infringement damages to date. The judge has the discretion to increase the award to three times that amount because the jury specifically determined the infringement was willful, Innogenetics said.