A Canadian court has ruled Bell Helicopter infringed on fellow helicopter-maker Eurocopter's landing gear design patent, the companies announced Tuesday.

Federal Court Judge Luc Martineau said in his decision, obtained by AFP, "This is a case of willful blindness or intentional and planned misappropriation of (Eurocopter's) claimed invention."

He also held in awarding punitive damages that Bell's conduct in the case was "highly reprehensible" and constituted a "callous disregard" for Eurocopter's patent rights. The amount of the damages has not yet been determined.

Eurocopter, a subsidiary of the European aeronautics giant EADS and the world's top manufacturer of civilian helicopters, sued Bell for copying a sleigh type landing gear on Eurocopter's EC120 and EC130 models.

According to court documents, Bell created a "slavish copy" for its new light twin-engine 429 model helicopter.

After Eurocopter filed the suit, Bell redesigned the landing gear on the 429 model. Bell said the original skid gear was never placed into production or sold to a customer.

The so-called "Moustache landing gear" was presented in court documents as a "major innovation" in skid-type landing gears for light helicopters.

It is comprised of two skids connected to a front cross piece and a rear cross piece which are themselves attached to the structure of the aircraft.

Two related cases are still pending in the United States and France.