Judge Dismisses Patent Award Covidien Won Last Year

The patent infringement war between Covidien plc and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) subsidiary Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. received a fresh ruling from the top U.S. patent appeals court on Dec. 4.

Judge Sharon Prost of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., tossed the $176 million award that Covidien had earned last year with regard to its patent dispute with Ethicon, according to a Reuter report.

In 2010, Covidien had leveled charges against Ethicon’s Harmonic line of ultrasonic surgical devices stating that the products infringed three of the company’s patents. In March 2013, the U.S. District Court held that Covidien’s patents were valid, enforceable and violated by Ethicon which had resulted in a $176 million verdict in favor of Covidien.

The amount was based on an 8 percent royalty rate on infringing sales through March 2012, plus prejudgment interest. However, Ethicon filed a petition against the judgment in a higher court.

As per the new ruling, Covidien’s patent claims were termed invalid. The judge held that the inventions referred by Covidien’s patent claims that include the use of a curved blade instead of a straight one, were obvious in light of previous technology.

In Jun 2014, Covidien had leveled another lawsuit against Ethicon, alleging that the latter’s latest ultrasonic surgical product – Harmonic ACE+7 – infringes three of Covidien’s patents. The lawsuit pleaded with the court to order Ethicon to terminate production and sale of the devices and grant damages for the same.

In Dec 2011, Ethicon had also brought infringement charges against Covidien’s Sonicision cordless ultrasonic dissection system. According to a ruling issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on Jan 22, 2012, Covidien had not violated any of the seven Ethicon patents in dispute.

In the 2012 ruling, the Court declared that five of Ethicon’s patents were not valid. Based on this judgment, Ethicon’s patent infringement action was dismissed and Covidien was allowed to continue selling its Sonicision system.