Medtronic’s patent infringement victory upheld

According to Adli Law Group,
In the field of pharmaceutical companies, patent infringement cases abound. This is because such companies are constantly researching and developing new types of medical devices, implants, drugs and equipment. Because the stakes are so high, protecting valuable, validly held patents from unauthorized use can mean the difference in millions of dollars.
The largest medical device maker, Medtronic, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against NuVasive Inc. in federal court in California. NuVasive is a smaller competitor of Medtronic, focused primarily on spinal products.
At issue were spinal surgery patents. In September, a jury awarded Medtronic more than $100 million in damages after a two-week trial because they believed that NuVasive did, in fact, infringe on three of Medtronic’s spinal device patents. According to data, this was the fourth-largest patent infringement verdict in the U.S. in 2011.
Interestingly, in the same case, the jury also awarded $660,000 in damages to NuVasive because Medtronic apparently infringed on one of its patents.
Since that jury verdict, NuVasive argued that one of the patents in dispute was invalid, and requested a new trial. A judge recently affirmed the September decision and denied the request for a new trial.
Medtronic also hoped to secure a permanent injunction against its competitor so that NuVasive would not be able to sell the products which infringe on the patents at issue. Of course, Medtronic would love to eliminate its competitor’s product from the pharmaceutical market. However, the judge also recently denied imposing a permanent injunction against NuVasive.
Representatives from Medtronic are considering their options as to whether to appeal the permanent injunction ruling.
Source: Bloomberg, “Medtronic Patent Trial Victory Over NuVasive Remains Intact…,” Bill Callahan, Jan. 26, 2012

Published:
15.02.12
Category:
IP News