Biggie Verdict in CA - An Orange County jury awarded $43.5 million in damages to a Rancho Santa Margarita-based company that claimed industry giant U.S. Surgical Corp. infringed on its patent for a device used in laparoscopic operations. The federal jury ruled Tuesday that U.S. Surgical, a division of Tyco International Ltd., willfully violated the patent of Applied Medical Services.

The finding allows Judge Cormac Carney to triple the damages and award attorney fees, actions which he is scheduled to consider at a Sept. 20 hearing. Applied argued that U.S. Surgical violated its patent on a sealing mechanism for a trocar, a tube that surgeons insert in patients to handle instruments during laparoscopic surgeries.