5-person company wins $55.2 million from Conoco
Contingency based law firm wins patent infringement case
Industry: Chemicals
Defendant: Conoco Inc.
Plaintiff: General Technology Applications
Jurisdiction:
Result: $55.2 million verdict
Source: “Jury finds in Favor of Va. Firm in Patent Case,” Washington Post, May 6, 2000; “Law firms see rewards, give boost to contingency work,” Boston Business Journal, November 15, 2002.
In early 2000, General Technology Applications, a five-person research company from Virginia, sued Conoco Inc. for infringement on three of its patents. The patents were for petroleum additives, which a federal jury decided Conoco “willfully” infringed upon with its “Liquid Power” product.
GTA won $55.2 million in their intellectual property lawsuit. According to the Boston Business Journal, the law firm Weingarten, Schurgin, Gagnebin & Hayes LLP represented GTA on contingency.
As a small research firm with five employees, GTA’s president, Jerry Trippe, said it’s been difficult competing with industry giants.
“Everything we tried to do, we got into big companies’ territories,” he said in the Washington Post. “It was very hard to compete.”
Conoco merged with Phillips Petroleum Company on August 30, 2002, establishing ConocoPhillips. According to the new company’s Web site, ConocoPhillips employs 38,700 people and owns $173 billion in assets worldwide.
