U.S. jury tells MHI to pay $170 million to GE in wind-turbine patent dispute

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. must pay about $170 million to General Electric Co. after a jury in the U.S. found the company infringed a wind-turbine patent.

Japan's biggest heavy machinery maker said it will challenge the verdict and seek to have the GE patent ruled unenforceable in a second phase of the trial in Dallas. A second GE patent, related to the turbines' base design, was ruled invalid by U.S. District Judge Royal Ferguson on Feb. 10.

GE accused Mitsubishi Heavy of infringing on a patent on a way to keep turbines connected to utility grids during voltage fluctuations without sustaining damage. The dispute is part of an effort by GE to maintain its market lead in the U.S., where it says it has made about half of the turbines in use.