Medtronic seeks another bite at the apple in $24m patent loss to spine doc inventor

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) asked a federal appeals court for a full-bench review of its nearly $24 million loss in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by a physician inventor. In February 2014, Dr. Mark Berry alleged that Fridley, Minn.-based Medtronic infringed on three patents covering a “system and method for aligning vertebrae in the amelioration of aberrant spinal column deviation conditions.” In November 2016, a jury in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas sided with Barry, awarding $15.1 million for infringement of one patent, more than $2.6 million for infringement on the second and $2.6 million for overseas infringement. In January 2017 a judge reduced the $20.3 million verdict by $2.6 million, ruling that Barry did not present sufficient evidence on the overseas violation but upholding the U.S. infringement claims. Later that year, the court awarded total damages of nearly $24 million. In January the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a split 2-1 opinion affirming the lower court’s decision. In a March 27 filing, Medtronic asked the appeals court to seat its full complement of judges for a review of the case, arguing that the dissenting judge’s argument on one of the patents should carry the day. “In Dr. Barry’s case, all of the foregoing considerations – the lack of records indicating experimentation, the normal fee charged, the control exercised, and the failure to inform customers of experimental purpose – w...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Featured Legal News Orthopedics Patent Infringement Spinal Medtronic Source Type: news