University of Colorado Foundation, Inc. v. American Cyanamid Co.

216 F. Supp. 2d 1188, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15528, 2002 WL 1915054
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedAugust 13, 2002
DocketCIV.A. 93-K-1657
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 216 F. Supp. 2d 1188 (University of Colorado Foundation, Inc. v. American Cyanamid Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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University of Colorado Foundation, Inc. v. American Cyanamid Co., 216 F. Supp. 2d 1188, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15528, 2002 WL 1915054 (D. Colo. 2002).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW ON DAMAGES AND EQUITABLE REMEDIES ON REMAND

KANE, Senior District Judge.

This matter is before me for the issuance of final Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on the issue of damages and equitable remedies available to Plaintiffs after my determination, on remand, that Plaintiffs were entitled to the re-entry of judgment in their favor and against Defendant on Plaintiffs’ claims for fraud and unjust enrichment. See University of Colorado Found. v. American Cyanamid Co., 105 F.Supp.2d 1164 (D.Colo.2000)(Cyan amid IV)(bifurcating liability and remedies issues and ordering a reopening of evidence and retrial on latter), on remand from University of Colo. Found., Inc. v. American Cyanamid, Co., 196 F.3d 1366 (Fed.Cir.1999). 1 Preliminary rulings intended to edify the drafting of proposed final findings and conclusions on remand were set forth in University of Colo. Found., Inc. v. American Cyanamid Co., 153 F.Supp.2d 1231 (D.Colo.2001) (entitled Preliminary Opinion to Guide Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (“ ‘Preliminary Opinion’ or Cyanamid V’)). Having carefully reviewed Plaintiffs’ Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Defendant’s Objections thereto and Alternative Calculations, Plaintiffs’ Corrected Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Response to Defendant’s Alternative Calculations, Defendant’s Response to Correction to Plaintiffs’ Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Authority, and Defendant’s Response to Plaintiffs Supplemental Authority, the following constitute my Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law with respect to the remedies to be afforded Plaintiffs for Defendant’s fraud and unjust enrichment:

I. STANDING.

I reiterate my finding from the 1996 trial that each of the Plaintiffs has standing to pursue claims against Cyanamid. See Cyanamid III, 974 F.Supp. at 1353.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY, APPELLATE WAIVER, LAW OF THE CASE, AND VIABILITY OF THE REMEDY OF DISGORGEMENT ON REMAND.

With respect to my recitation of the procedural history of this case and rulings *1191 on the issues of appellate waiver, law of the case, and viability of the remedy of disgorgement on remand, I refer to pages 1281 — 1237 of Cyanamid V and related pages 1172 — 73 of Cyanamid TV. Despite their best efforts, the parties’ attempts to paraphrase my analysis and rulings in the Corrected Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and objections thereto include subtle — and sometimes not-so-subtle — “spin” that risks creating unintended distinctions between my analysis in these introductory sections of the Preliminary Opinion and any characterization of it as “final” Findings and Conclusions here. The issues of appellate waiver, law of the case and the viability of disgorgement as a remedy after remand are legal ones, and my analysis of them in Cyanamids TV and V speaks for itself. Rather than providing these enduring combatants with the means of creating additional and unnecessary grounds for appeal, I simply refer to my previous analysis and decline to create the legal ambiguities the parties’ submissions invite.

FINDINGS OF FACT REGARDING FRAUD DAMAGES.

Substantial Value to Cyanamid of Exclusive Rights in the ’634 Patent.

1.I find beyond any doubt that Cyan-amid, in 1981, saw substantial value in the reformulation ideas conceived by the Doctors in Studies IA and II and IIA and refined in Studies III and IV. Tr. at 593, 598 and 605 (Rubinfeld testimony); Exs. 114 (“this is the most important thing we have done”), 225 (discussing Cyanamid’s pre-patent preparations to enforce the ’634 Patent against generics), 245; McCool Tr. at 243, 254-255 and 258-259; Damson Tr. (5/14/96) at 1485-88. Whether these ideas are referred to as “the reformulation technology” or “the ’634 [Patent] technology” is immaterial, as the terms are interchangeable. See Cyanamid TV, 105 F.Supp.2d at 1180-81 (rejecting Cyanam-id’s attempts to characterize the scope of the invention patented as being broader than the reformulation technology conceived by the Doctors, and concluding they were one and the same).

2. Cyanamid announced the reformulation of Materna on October 14, 1981 (Ex. 174) and within days, Dr. Ellenbogen and Cyanamid’s in-house patent counsel R.P. Raymond were circulating a proposed patent application on the reformulation technology. Ex. 178. Cyanamid’s Application for Letters Patent, 28,776 (Ex. 189A, see also Ex. 234), signed by Dr. Ellenbogen and including the tables and figures cut, pasted and photocopied from the Doctors’ New England Journal of Medicine article manuscript, was filed on or about December 10, 1981.

3. Cyanamid saw value in getting the patent filed before the end of the year. A December filing would secure a 1981 trigger date for future enforcement actions against generic manufacturers of prenatal vitamin formulations within the patent’s scope. Cyanamid appreciated this value, as evidenced by a September 1983 internal memorandum explaining that, because the Materna patent was submitted in December 1981, “[a] generic is in violation of our patent unless the product was on the market prior to December 1980.” (Ex. 225)

Since [sic] reformulated Materna was introduced in October 1981, no generic companies would have been copying our present formula until after the October 1981 introduction. Therefore [assuming the patent is issued], it is assumed that all generic Materna formulas are in violation of our patent.

Id. It is a reasonable inference from these facts that Cyanamid appreciated the value of a 1981 filing date when it introduced *1192 reformulated Materna in 1981, and would have come to any negotiations with UPI or Dr. Allen to secure exclusive rights to the Doctors’ reformulation technology strongly motivated to secure them before the end of the year.

4. The “big advantage” of patent protection is the elimination of “direct generic competition.” Rubinfeld Test., Tr. at 614. Additional value results from the marketing gains associated with the reduction or elimination of “leakage,” i.e., revenue lost as a result of the substitution by pharmacists of generics for brand name products that are not patented. Rubinfeld Test., Tr. at 592-596. Substitution rates for un-patented brand-name • prenatal vitamin products is 50% (or higher) such that marketing dollars spent promoting those products yield correspondingly low returns, i.e., 50 cents on the dollar or less. See id., Tr. at 592, 594-595, 616-617; Ex. 732 at A063871 (substitution rates for Stuartnatal “historically 60% and currently close to 50%”). I find Cyanamid appreciated these aspects of value in 1981 when it filed its patent application, and they would have strongly influenced any negotiations it had with UPI and Dr. Allen for exclusive rights to the invention in 1981.

5. The damage award in Cyanamid III

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216 F. Supp. 2d 1188, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15528, 2002 WL 1915054, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/university-of-colorado-foundation-inc-v-american-cyanamid-co-cod-2002.