Supreme Court won’t review $31 million award against Demant and Widex in patent case

David Kirkwood
May 1, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC—The U.S. Supreme Court announced on April 22 that it would not hear an appeal of a Federal District Court verdict against the Danish hearing aid manufacturers William Demant Holding A/S and Widex A/S in a patent case brought by Energy Transportation Group. The high court’s decision leaves standing a jury’s $31 million verdict against Demant (which owns Oticon) and against Widex.

In a suit filed June 23, 2005 in U.S. District Court in Delaware, Energy Transportation Group alleged that the defendants had infringed on a patent it held for technology that reduces hearing aid feedback.

For much more on this highly significant case, see Holly Hosford-Dunn’s post this week on Hearing Economics.

  1. David Kirkwood Author

    Bob B.,

    You are quite right that William Demant does not own Widex and I did not intend to say that it does–though I can see why you read the post that way. I have revised it for greater clarity so that it now says:

    The high court’s decision leaves standing a jury’s $31 million verdict against Demant (which owns Oticon) and against Widex.

    I urge you and other readers to read my colleague Holly Hosford-Dunn’s May 1 post on her Hearing Economics blog, which provides much more comprehensive coverage of this important issue. The URL for that post is https://hearinghealthmatters.org/hearingeconomics/2013/patent-patrol-jan-feb-2013/

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