NASA Ordered to Pay Boeing $28.3M in Patent Case
New York, NY - The Boeing Co. has won a patent infringement suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims based on NASA’s use of an aluminum alloy in the space shuttle. With the assistance of Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness (primarily member Lee Johnson), Boeing obtained the patent on the aluminum alloy in 1989. The alloy provided a lighter structure for aircraft frames. NASA has been ordered to pay Boeing a total of $28.3 million, including $11.3 million in interest, after a U.S. Federal judge concluded that techniques used in constructing the space shuttle infringed Boeing's patent.
Boeing developed a composition that could be heat-treated with a process called low temperature underaging to create an alloy suitable for airplane manufacturing. COJK filed the original application and obtained the patent in 1989, and Boeing subsequently licensed the patent to three aluminum manufacturers.
The patent-in-suit is U.S. Patent Number 4,840,682, issued in 1989 and titled "Low temperature underaging process for lithium bearing alloys."
The case is The Boeing Co. v. U.S., case number 00-cv-00705, in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
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