Heavy Equipment

Caterpillar to Pay $12.9M in Wirtgen Patent Battle

Delaware jury says Cat’s road-milling machines infringe Wirtgen patents.

Updated on

March 14, 2024

A Wirtgen cold milling machine. PHOTO | Wirtgen

Caterpillar has been ordered to pay $12.9 million in damages to Deere & Co. subsidiary Wirtgen for infringing on its road-building technology patents.

A federal jury in Delaware, US, has last week ruled that Caterpillar’s road-milling machines infringed five of six Wirtgen patents, closing a seven-year legal battle.

Additionally, the jury found Caterpillar’s infringement to be ‘wilful,’ potentially leading to a judge multiplying the damages by up to three times.

Deere & Co. launched a lawsuit in 2017 accusing Caterpillar of infringing its patents pertaining to cold milling technology used for rehabilitating road surfaces.

The company demanded an undisclosed amount of monetary damages.

Caterpillar, however, denied any wrongdoing, saying that its machines did not employ Wirtgen’s patented technology and that the patents are invalid.

It countersued Wirtgen for infringing on three of its patents for its cold planers.

On January 4, Judge Joshua D. Wolson ruled that Wirtgen did not violate two of Caterpillar’s claims on one of its patents. Additionally, he ruled that Caterpillar did not breach one claim on one of Wirtgen’s patents.

The judge concluded that due to the conflicting testimony from both parties’ agents, he could not rule on the remaining claims under consideration.

The remaining claims were left for the jury to decide.

On February 22, the jury found Caterpillar guilty of wilfully infringing five of six Wirtgen America patents, awarding the company $12.9 million in damages.

Infringed patents

According to the lawyers, the patents that were infringed included:

Editor’s note: Only the last three digits of the patents are shown.

Patent 309 – Floating mount on front and rear axle, increasing height an obstacle can be ridden over by only one wheel.

Patent 530 – Measuring device to regulate the height-adjustable lifting columns.

Patent 641 – Reverse travel shut-off feature. Monitoring device that senses the distance between the milling drum and the ground, and when the machine is travelling in the same direction as the rotation of the milling drum, it triggers a safety mechanism to prevent contact of the milling drum with the ground surface.

Patent 788 – Levelling system to sense and control milling depth and/or slope.

Patent 972 – Controller and sensors that control the extension and retraction of one or more lifting columns to maintain the machine frame parallel to the ground or to position the machine frame at a predetermined milling level.

Caterpillar, which maintains its innocence, said it was exploring its legal options.

“We respect the jury’s verdict and will review our legal options.”