A federal jury's initial award of nearly $13.2 million in damages in a lawsuit by Inspired Technologies against Intertape Polymer Corp. has twice been reduced, with the final amount owed to Inspired fixed at $700,000.
A jury issued the six-figure judgment award in favor of Le Sueur, Minn.-based Inspired in a trial that ended Feb. 14 in U.S. District Court in Orlando.
A jury in September awarded the initial damages, which were reduced to $3 million in December after the court granted Bradenton, Fla.-based Intertape's post-trial motion to reduce the amount. The company then successfully petitioned the court for a new trial.
A spokesman for Intertape said the company would have no further comment beyond a Feb. 14 news release announcing the verdict.
Officials for Inspired did not return calls seeking comment.
According to court records, the case stems from a dispute over a two-year agreement the companies signed in 2008, under which Intertape was to supply rolls of paper painter's masking tape to Inspired. Inspired would then add Paintblock, a proprietary cross-linked, sodium-based, super-absorbent polymer, which prevents latex-paint bleed, and sell the tape under its Frog Tape brand.
Intertape sued Inspired in February 2009, alleging that Inspired broke the contract by licensing a second supplier, Shurtape Technologies LLC of Hickory, N.C.
Inspired countersued, claiming that Intertape provided it with defective tape and proposed a joint venture solely to acquire Inspired's Paintblock polymer to develop a competitor, Bloc-it, and force Inspired into bankruptcy by ruining its reputation among customers in the home improvement industry.
Intertape has denied all the claims against it.
