This week’s Litigators of the Week, Daralyn Durie, Eugene Novikov and Kira Davis of Durie Tangri scored a nine-digit infringement verdict for Plexxikon, the Berkeley, California-based developer of the first FDA-approved targeted therapy for metastatic melanoma — the deadliest form of skin cancer in the U.S.

After an eight-day trial in front of U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr., a federal jury in Oakland last week found that Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. not only infringed Plexxikon’s patents, but did so willfully. The verdict included the entire $177.8M damages amount Plexxikon was seeking.