Insulet Wins Global Trade Secrets Bar as Judge Cuts Award (1)

Insulet Corp. deserves a worldwide permanent injunction against EOFlow Co. Ltd., but its $452 million insulin pump patch trade secrets verdict must be dramatically reduced to $59.4 million, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that awarding future damages and an injunction would be improper double-recovery. Insulet opted to seek the injunction plus past-based damages rather than the full award, the court said, noting the trial established EOFlow had approximately $24 million in net assets “at most.”

US District Judge Dennis Saylor IV’s opinion noted EOFlow’s inability to pay the original verdict regarding stolen secrets that led to its infringing, competing insulin pump, EOPatch 2. While EOFlow argued the injunction would force it out of business, Saylor said a defendant can’t escape an injunction just because its primary product is an infringing one.

The court crafted the injunction to let EOFlow continue sales to existing EOPatch 2 patients. This provision allows defendants to “maintain their current revenue stream throughout the appeal process” without allowing expansion through use of stolen secrets. The exception also ensures patients in Europe and South Korea have sufficient time for an “orderly transition to other means of care.”

Insulet said in an emailed comment it’s pleased with the ruling as the injunction “provides strong protections” by barring EOFlow from transferring its intellectual property or expanding sales of products using it. The company also noted the order requires EOFlow to reassign to it patent applications rooted in the stolen secrets.

Counsel for EOFlow didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

EOFlow hired a number of high-level Insulet employees before developing its EOPatch 2 model, which it released in Korea and Europe in 2021 and 2022. Insulet sued EOFlow in August 2023, after which medical device giant Medtronic backed out of an agreement to buy EOFlow.

Insulet’s initial preliminary injunction was reversed by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. EOFlow, meanwhile, failed to convince the court that Insulet waited too long to sue. Patent claims were stayed pending resolution of the trade secret dispute.

Saylor found that $25.8 million of the jury’s $170 million compensatory award represented EOFlow’s already-realized cost savings from the misappropriation, which the injunction would also deny. The remaining amount was excluded to avoid the possibility of double-recovery.

Since exemplary damages punish past misconduct, they aren’t duplicative, Saylor said. But the Defend Trade Secrets Act caps exemplary damages at double the compensatory award, so exemplary damages had to be reduced to $33.6 million given the cut in the compensatory award.

Saylor rejected EOFlow’s argument against any injunction. He cited the irreparable nature of trade secrets theft, EOFlow’s likely inability to satisfy the judgment, and inequity of making Insulet compete with its stolen innovation.

The opinion rejected EOFlow’s bid to curtail the reach and permanence of the injunction. It noted the DTSA explicitly allows for extraterritorial reach for US offenders, or offending activity in the US—both of which apply. Saylor also rejected an expiration date, saying evidence didn’t support the claim EOFlow could have independently replicated the technology in less than four years.

Goodwin Procter LLP represents Insulet. Cooley LLP and Covington & Burling LLP represents EOFlow.

The case is Insulet Corp. v. EOFlow Co., D. Mass., No. 1:23-cv-11780, order filed 4/24/25.