A Brattle team worked on behalf of Wirtgen – a subsidiary of John Deere – in Wirtgen America, Inc. v. Caterpillar, Inc., a patent infringement lawsuit concerning road milling patents used in road rehabilitation machines. A district court judge recently upheld a federal jury’s February 2024 decision that found Caterpillar guilty of infringing five of Wirtgen’s patents and enhanced the damages the manufacturing giant owed by 50 percent to about $19.5 million. In a rare feat, the judge also issued a permanent injunction blocking the sale of Caterpillar’s infringing road rehabilitation machines in the US.

Wirtgen first sued Caterpillar in 2017, and Brattle was retained by Patterson Intellectual Property Law in 2021 to provide damages analysis. The Brattle team was led by Principals Dr. Pallavi Seth and Dr. Coleman Bazelon. Dr. Seth filed expert reports and provided deposition testimony, and she also testified before the jury at trial regarding reasonable royalty damages incurred by Wirtgen as a result of Caterpillar’s infringement of Wirtgen’s patents.

To learn more, read Brattle’s full case highlight.