Smart & Biggar successfully represented Tekna Plasma Systems (Tekna), the plaintiff in this action. Tekna was seeking the impeachment and a declaration of non-infringement of two patents owned by AP&C Advanced Powders & Coatings Inc (AP&C), a division of GE Additive. Tekna and AP&C are two of the main manufacturers of plasma atomized metal powders that are used for additive manufacturing (AM) applications, especially in the aerospace industry.
It took three years of litigation, several rounds of complex testing in specialized labs and universities by both sides (which required an adjournment of the trial), five experts, hundreds of pages of expert reports and three weeks of evidence at trial for the Court to ultimately conclude in very detailed reasons that this was one of the rare cases where most of the claims of the two patents at issue were invalid for ambiguity (and all non-infringed).
In a subsequent related decision, 2024 FC 1954, Tekna was awarded over 2.9M in costs.