Deere Wins $16.3 Million in High-Speed Planting Tech Trial (1)

Deere & Co. won $16.3 million after a federal jury in Iowa on Monday found two smaller rivals’ high-speed planters and retrofit kits infringe two patents for technology that automates the precise planting and spacing of seeds.

Kinze Manufacturing Inc.’s True Speed system and Ag Leader Technology Inc.’s SureSpeed system directly infringe Deere’s US Patent Nos. 9,861,031 and 10,729,063, according to a verdict issued in the US District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Jurors also found that Kinze actively induced Ag Leader to infringe the ‘031 and ‘063 patents or that Kinze contributed to that infringement. They ...