NATION : Wiper Inventor to Get $6 Million

DETROIT — The Ford Motor Co. must pay inventor Robert Kearns as much as $6 million in damages for stealing his patents for intermittent windshield wipers, a federal jury ruled today.

Attorneys on both sides said the award apparently will cost Ford about 30 cents for each car it equipped with the system between 1972 and 1988, when the patents expired.

“It looks like it’s between $5 million and $6 million,” said Ford attorney Malcolm Wheeler.

Wheeler said Ford is pleased with the decision because Kearns had been seeking $140 million in damages, about $6.85 per car. Ford had asked that the award be kept below $1.5 million, or 5 cents per car.