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Baltimore Federal Jury Rejects Star's Patent Infringement Claims Against R.J. Reynolds 

The jury verdict was a wipeout for Star: Jurors not only found its patents invalid but also said Reynolds did not infringe. It doesn't get much more resounding than that, folks. Star's shares, according the The Wall Street Journal's account of the verdict, fell more than 80 percent after the jury ruled. . . .

McMillan told the Litigation Daily on Wednesday that Star will file posttrial motions asking Judge Marvin Garbis to reverse the verdict, and, if those are not successful, will appeal. The Crowell & Moring partner said Reynolds based its case on whether the tobacco farmers that Star alleged to infringe its patents used an earlier curing method developed by a Reynolds scientist. "We moved at the outset to strike that and focus on the relevant issues we were trying, which were whether the farmers did in fact perform each element of the [Star] patents," McMillan said. "We think there were an extraordinary number of errors made by the trial judge."

Given Star's history with Judge Garbis, we'd put odds against him tossing the jury verdict.

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