On January 30, 2012, Judge Luc Martineau of the Federal Court of Canada handed down his decision in Eurocopter (Société par actions simplifiée) v. Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Limitée, 2012 FC 113.
Eurocopter is the owner of the Canadian Patent 2,207,787 which covers an innovative helicopter landing gear design that Eurocopter developed and implemented on its highly successful EC120 and EC130 models.
Between 2004 and 2007, Bell developed a landing gear for its then new Bell 429 helicopter. The Bell 429 landing gear had all the characteristics of Eurocopter's proprietary technology. The first flight of the Bell 429 equipped with this landing gear took place in February 2007. Soon thereafter, Eurocopter launched an action against Bell to enforce its 787 patent. Bell denied infringement and attacked the validity of Eurocopter's patent.
Eurocopter successfully resisted the attack of Bell regarding the core claim of the 787 Patent. The judge ruled that Bell Helicopter intentionally infringed the 787 patent and awarded punitive damages to Eurocopter. In his reasons, the judge concludes that "Eurocopter is entitled to punitive damages as a result of the infringement by Bell of the '787 Patent and the deliberate and outrageous conduct of Bell in this case". The Court has not yet determined the amount of damages due to Eurocopter.
In addition to awarding to Eurocopter (as yet undetermined) damages and punitive damages, the judge also issued an injunction enjoining Bell from manufacturing, using, or selling the infringing landing gear, and also ordered Bell to destroy all infringing landing gears in its possession.
As soon as Eurocopter filed the case, Bell quickly redesigned the landing gear on the 429 model. The judge held that the redesigned landing gear did not infringe Eurocopter's Canadian patent.
Fasken Martineau's Marek Nitoslawski, Julie Desrosiers, David Turgeon, Chloé Latulippe, Joanie Lapalme, Alexandre Abecassis and Olivier Provost-Cao acted on behalf of Eurocopter.