SOUTHFIELD, MI - - Sommers Schwartz, P.C., attorney Andrew Kochanowski announces that his client, Charles S. Baum, 69, of Baum Research and Development in Traverse City, Michigan was awarded a $3.0 million verdict against the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in damages for breach of a license agreement and $3.1 million for infringement of a patent on the Baum Hitting Machine. The jury also found in favor of Mr. Baum on the issue of willful infringement. The case was tried in United States District Court – Western District of Michigan – Southern Division. Magistrate Judge Ellen S. Carmody presided over the two-week trial.

Baum Research and Development manufactured a state of the art baseball bat testing machine called the Baum Hitting Machine. The Baum Hitting Machine was invented to test aluminum baseball bats used in collegiate and high school baseball games. The NCAA rules adopted in 1998 limited the speed of the ball as hit by high performance aluminum bats, and the Baum Hitting Machine was chosen as the only device on which it would test bats. Plaintiff Charles S. Baum, a prolific inventor, is the sole owner of the patent. Only two Baum Hitting Machines were ever created, one of which was delivered to the University of Massachusetts at Lowell under a limited license agreement prohibiting use of the machine for commercial testing. 

In an earlier trial, a jury had found that the University of Massachusetts at Lowell breached the license agreement and performed unlicensed testing using the Baum Hitting Machine. The testing was performed at the Baseball Research Center, which is part of the Department of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell under Director, Dr. James Sherwood. After only a half-day of deliberation, the jury found that the University of Massachusetts at Lowell owed Mr. Baum and his company damages and wilfully infringed the claims of Baum’s patent. With interest, the current award is expected to exceed $4.0 million. The jury rejected each defense presented by the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Sommers Schwartz P.C. is located at 2000 Town Center, Suite 900, Southfield, MI 48075. To reach Sommers Schwartz, P.C., phone 248-355-0300. 

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