Edwards Lifesciences, a cardiovascular medical device manufacturer, announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the decision of a federal jury trial against Medtronic. The original jury trial took place in April of last year.

According to the judgement, Medtronic CoreValve engaged in willful infringement of Edward Lifesciences’ transcatheter heart valve patent. In addition, the U.S. Appeals Court created an order that required the trial court to reconsider a permanent injunction against Medronic’s CoreValve system. The injunction would ban the sale and production of Medtronic’s transcather heart valve in the U.S.

In addition, the Appeals Court also ruled that Edwards’ patent was valid. The original verdict by the federal jury awarded Edwards $74 million in initial payments for infringement up to 2010. Edwards Lifesciences also believes that further decisions by the court will force Medtronic to pay additional damages for infringement. Further proceedings will be managed by the U.S. District Court in the District of Delaware.

In a prepared statement, Edwards VP Aimee Weisner said, "We are very pleased that the appeals court has confirmed that Medtronic CoreValve is illegally using Edwards' transcatheter valve technology. We believe this is a decisive milestone toward final resolution of this matter, given that we have a clear jury verdict that has been affirmed by both the District Court and now the U.S. Court of Appeals.”

References

www.edwards.com/newsroom/Pages/NR20121113.aspx