Novartis’ $178 Million Patent Loss Stands in Mixed Ruling (1)

Novartis AG failed to get a new trial on a California jury’s award of $178 million to Daiichi Sankyo Co.’s Plexxikon Inc. for the Swiss company’s infringement of two cancer drug patents, but it escaped the potential tripling of that amount as a federal judge agreed any infringement wasn’t intentional.

With “the exception of willfulness, the jury’s verdict was not contrary to the clear weight of the evidence,” Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. wrote in an opinion issued Thursday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Having agreed with the company that any infringement wasn’t willful, ...