Litton Wins Another Round in Patent Suit

Litton Industries Inc. said Monday that it won another round in its historic billion-dollar litigation with Honeywell Inc. over rights to a product used in guiding commercial jetliners.

Litton, a Woodland Hills-based aerospace electronics concern, said a federal appeals court reinstated a jury’s finding that Honeywell infringed Litton’s patent on a process to coat mirrors in the navigational product, called a ring laser gyroscope.

Not only had the Los Angeles jury in 1993 found Honeywell liable, it also awarded Litton $1.2 billion in damages, the largest patent-infringement victory ever. But the judge in the case, Mariana R. Pfaelzer of U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, later nullified the jury’s decision.

Litton then appealed, and it said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington on July 3 reversed Pfaelzer’s ruling that Litton’s patent was invalid and unenforceable.

However, the appellate court also returned the case to Pfaelzer for a new trial to determine the damages due Litton. So it’s unclear whether Litton will again be awarded $1.2 billion in damages.

Minneapolis-based Honeywell said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the appellate court’s ruling and vowed to keep fighting all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

“We believe that Litton’s patent is not valid and will continue to vigorously defend our position,” Edward D. Grayson, Honeywell’s general counsel, said in a statement.

Litton also holds the edge in a companion lawsuit that Pfaelzer is overseeing, in which Litton alleged that Honeywell monopolized the market for the gyroscopes.

In that case, a jury earlier this year agreed with Litton’s claim and ordered Honeywell to pay $234 million in damages--a sum that would automatically be tripled to $702 million under U.S. antitrust law. Honeywell has vowed to appeal if that jury’s decision is upheld by the judge.