Healthcare Industry News: Liberte
News Release - May 11, 2006
District Court Issues Two Decisions Regarding Patent Litigation Between Cordis Corporation and Boston Scientific
MIAMI, May 11 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- A U.S. District Court Judge in Wilmington, Del. issued two decisions today about post-trial motions related to jury verdicts last year in patent litigation between Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company, and Boston Scientific.In the first decision, Judge Sue Robinson upheld a jury verdict from June 2005 that found Boston Scientific's Taxus Stent and its Liberte and Express bare metal stents infringe Cordis' pioneering Palmaz patent for balloon expandable stents, and that the Liberte stent also infringes another Cordis patent -- the Gray patent -- which relates to flexible balloon expandable stents and expires in 2016. The Palmaz patent has expired. Judge Robinson did not set dates for trials to determine damages.
"We are pleased with today's decision from Judge Robinson to uphold the jury verdict in favor of the Palmaz and Gray patents," said Rick Anderson, Company Group Chairman, Johnson & Johnson and Worldwide Chairman, Cordis Corporation. "Today's decision -- together with previous findings of infringement by Boston Scientific's NIR stent -- reinforces the strength of Cordis' deep patent estate in the balloon expandable stent field."
In a second decision, Judge Robinson upheld the portion of a July 2005 jury verdict that found Boston Scientific's Jang patent to be valid and infringed, under the doctrine of equivalents, by Cordis' CYPHER® Sirolimus- eluting Coronary Stent and Bx Velocity family of stent products. The Jang patent claims specific stent geometry.
The judge, however, did not rule on an additional Cordis motion asking that she overturn the jury's finding that the CYPHER® Stent also infringes Boston Scientific's Ding patent, which claims a two-layer drug coating on a drug-eluting stent.
Cordis will appeal Judge Robinson's decision today on the Jang patent to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C.
About Cordis Corporation
Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company, is a worldwide leader in developing and manufacturing interventional vascular technology. Through the company's innovation, research and development, physicians worldwide are better able to treat the millions of patients who suffer from vascular disease.
Source: Cordis
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