On March 26, a federal jury in Marshall awarded DataTreasury Corp. $27 million in damages against U.S. Bank and two other companies in the first of DTC’s suits to go to trial over alleged infringement of its patents covering technology used to process checks. But the amount of damages could go higher.

A Baker Botts lawyer who practices intellectual property law representing plaintiffs and defendants says the interesting thing about the verdict is the finding of willful infringement against two of the defendants.