No Joint Ownership of Gore-Tex Patent; W.L. Gore Liable for $390 Million Judgment

Almost 40 years after the invention of Gore-Tex, the contested patent ownership appears finally to be resolved, and the company that gave the vascular graft its name owes $390 million to its competitor, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Feb. 10 in a split decision (Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc. v. W.L. Gore & Associates Inc., Fed. Cir., 2010-1510, 2/10/12).

The majority affirmed a judgment of no joint inventorship, following 1998 and 2001 rulings affirming judgments of first reduction to practice by Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc. and no inurement to W.L. Gore & Associates Inc., ...