Medtronic set to appeal jury verdict

Medtronic is set to appeal a verdict from a federal jury in Boston that its Vertex line infringes a patent licensed to DePuy Spine.

The jury had found that the Vertex line of mult-axial pedicle screws infringed a patent owned by the Johnson & Johnson company and awarded $226 million (?111 million) in damages to DePuy.

However the verdict has not been finalised and Medtronic will bring its defence during the post-trial rulings.

Pete Wehrly, senior vice president and president of the Sspine and Bbiologics business unit at Medtronic expressed his disappointment with the jury’s verdict.

“We appreciate the time and effort that the jury put into this case but we respectfully disagree and we will appeal. We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and will vigorously defend ourselves,” he emphasised.

Medtronic previously triumphed in the same case in November 2006 when the Federal Circuit agreed with the company that there was no literal infringement of the patent, but remanded the case for trial under the doctrine of equivalents.

The company is currently introducing a non-infringing screw design with improved features and patient benefits.

Earlier this year, the US court of appeals for the federal circuit ruled in favour of Medtronic in a previously continuing patent litigation case against Biomet subsidiary Cross Medical Products relating to Medtronic’s CD Horizon Legacy, Vertex and CD Horizon Sextant milt-axial screw products -axial screw products.