"Upon finding for the claimant, the court shall award the claimant damages adequate to compensate for the infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by the infringer, together with interest and cost as fixed by the court.
Section 285:
" The court in exceptional cases may award prevailing attorney fees to the prevailing party, in either event the court may award up to three times the amount found or assessed."
On August 26th, 2009, the United States District Court in Memphis, Tennessee ruled on behalf of the claimant's (Synthes) petition permanently enjoining Medtronic from infringing on U.S. Patent No. 6,936,071 covering the Synthes ProDisc-L artificial lumbar disc. The award and damages amounted to $21 million. Based on recent rulings, Medtronic got off easily.
Yet, considering that Synthes overpaid for the ProDisc-L (but what's an additional $50-$100 million for Hansjoerg Wyss) it seems that "the worm has turned" for the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Osteosynthesfragen! Once again, under the "leadership" of "Buffalo Bill" Hawkins, Medtronic has taken another beating, no less on it's home turf. Could they possibly rebound and beat NuVasive? Time will tell. The Spine Blogger wants to know what its readers think?
Considering that the Medtronic Maverick patent outdates the Prodisc patent by 10 years, it apears to be an amazing display of ineptitude that Medtronic could lose both rounds of this fight.
ReplyDeleteWhat do they do now? Cut off the keel? Scrap the project? Do date, the Maverick has produced the most convincing data in favor of TDR of any disc, but has yet to be approved by the FDA. Strange