BUSINESS BRIEFING / COURTS

Boeing Co. may get hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation after winning a patent-infringement claim against NASA over an aluminum alloy used to build the space shuttle.

Boeing developed a lighter structure for frames in the 1970s and 1980s to save on jet fuel costs. It claimed the technology was used in the external fuel tank that provides the backbone of the shuttle during launch and sued the government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington in 2000.

Federal Claims Judge Francis M. Allegra said Boeing was entitled to a 1.25% royalty on the cost of the tanks. He ordered the two sides to submit a filing by April 17 on exactly how much that would total.