BRP says it will appeal a $60-million judgment in a patent-infringement lawsuit filed against it by rival Arctic Cat Inc.Bloomberg
BRP Inc., the maker of Sea-Doo personal watercraft, plans to appeal a $60-million court decision in a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by rival Arctic Cat Inc.
A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has awarded Minnesota-based Arctic Cat triple the $19.5-million in damages awarded in a June 1 jury verdict.
The jury unanimously found that Valcourt, Que.-based BRP – Bombardier Recreational Products – willfully infringed on two of Arctic Cat's patents for an innovative, safer steering technology for personal watercraft.
U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom said in her decision that "the jury found, by clear and convincing evidence, that BRP infringed the above-listed claims 'with reckless disregard of whether such claim was infringed or was invalid or unenforceable,' entitling Arctic Cat to treble damages."
The damages cover the sale of more than 150,000 Sea-Doo watercraft between 2009 and 2015, BRP spokeswoman Valérie Bridger said.
BRP, which was spun off from Bombardier Inc. in 2003, will appeal the decision, she said.
"The company believes this decision is unfounded," BRP said in a news release late Tuesday.
The judgment is the latest in a long-running patent-infringement feud between the rival companies. BRP filed suits in Canada and the United States against Arctic Cat in 2011, alleging the company infringed on its patent for an improved snowmobile chassis. The filing in Canada was heard in court last year and a judgment is still pending, while the U.S. action is set to begin in court this year, Ms. Bridger said.
Arctic Cat quit the personal watercraft market about 15 years ago. It claimed in court documents in 2014 that BRP copied its watercraft steering technology after Arctic Cat first demonstrated it to BRP in 1999.
"There were no lost profits to Arctic Cat. But in the United States, if you have a patent that is your property, then you are entitled to a reasonable royalty for infringement," said Arctic Cat's lead counsel, Nicholas Boebel, an intellectual property attorney with the Seattle law firm Hagens Berman.