Mistrial Declared in Wiper Patent Suit Against Ford

A federal judge declared a mistrial Wednesday when a jury was unable to agree on damages that Ford Motor Co. should pay an inventor for infringing on his patents for a widely used windshield wiper system.

Inventor Robert Kearns, a former engineering professor who lives in Gaithersburg, Md., was seeking $325 million in damages from the nation’s second-largest auto maker in a case that other car makers have been watching closely.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn said the jury was hung, and he discharged it. “The court had determined that there is no useful purpose for them (the jury) to deliver it,” he said.

Cohn said the jury had come to a near-unanimous verdict on a damage award but that there was one holdout who could not agree on the amount.