A few years ago, U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin of the Central District of California seemed to be on Cochlear Ltd.'s side.

Although a jury awarded $131 million against the Australian hearing implant giant in 2014 for infringing four patent claims, Olguin ruled post-trial that three of the four claims were invalid. He also granted a new trial on damages and rejected the jury's finding that the award was willful.

Now, after a trip to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a change in the law of willfulness from the Supreme Court, and a re-examination proceeding that seems to have irked the judge, Olguin has come down on Cochlear hard. He's not only reinstated the $131 million infringement award, he's doubled it for willfulness. The total comes to $268 million with supplemental damages.