Grenke et al v. National Oilwell Varco et al
2018 FC 564"I found Cohen to be highly credible, objective, and extremely helpful. I gave his evidence great weight and generally preferred it to others, particularly those who challenged his methods and conclusions."
- Judgment in 2018 FC 564This action proceeded in the Federal Court of Canada. The Plaintiffs’ patent related generally to a “stuffing box”, which is a device that seals off the top of an oil well. The patented device allowed for the inspection and planned maintenance of the stuffing box seals to minimize leaking and failure.
The Plaintiffs claimed that the Defendants had copied their invention and sold the infringing equipment in the same markets as the Plaintiffs. The Court found that the Defendants had infringed the Plaintiff’s patent, and CHS was retained by the Plaintiffs to assist in quantifying its damages resulting from the infringement activity of the Defendants.
Although the Plaintiff had the option to elect its lost profits from the infringement or an accounting of the profits earned by the Defendants, in this case the election for damages was largely chosen due to the lack of reliable and/or complete information from the Defendants. We assisted in determining this election by the Plaintiff.
CHS prepared an expert report and appeared at the trial to provide expert evidence. At the trial, there were significant differences in the conclusions as to damages opined on by the experts – based largely on many of the underlying assumptions. The Court found our evidence to be preferred.
Our analysis in this case included profits directly related to sales of infringing devices by the Defendants, as well as convoyed sales of related products, service and maintenance profits and royalties in respect of sales of infringing devices that would not have been made directly by the Plaintiffs. The Plaintiffs were also awarded prejudgment interest, as calculated by CHS.