Eagle View Technologies, Inc. v. Aerialogics, LLC

A years-long patent suit between two competing providers of aerial imagery solutions has culminated in the issuance of injunctive relief after a jury returned a $125M willful infringement verdict. The dispute saw plaintiff Eagle View Technologies (d/b/a EagleView) and defendants Verisk Analytics and Xactware Solutions end up on opposite sides of the table after a failed merger: In January 2014, the larger Verisk (the parent of Xactware) announced that it had agreed to acquire EagleView’s parent company (EagleView Technology Corporation) for $650M, but the companies ultimately abandoned the deal later that year after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenged the merger on antitrust grounds. The following September, EagleView and its subsidiary Pictometry International sued Verisk and XactWare for patent infringement, and in September 2019, following a two-week trial, a New Jersey jury issued a verdict of direct and indirect infringement as well as willfulness. On October 18, District Judge Renée Marie Bumb granted a permanent injunction against the defendants, citing the “possibility that Eagle View could be pushed out of business altogether” without one—stating that this “is a risk this Court is not willing to take”.