Legal News

Boston Scientific Hit With New Loss in Lone-Star State

By Ashby Jones

In recent months, Marshall, Texas has not been a hospitable place for heart-stent maker Boston Scientific Corp. In February, a federal jury in Marshall awarded Dr. Bruce Saffran over $431 million against the company in patent-infringement litigation involving heart stents (one type of which is pictured). Now this: a separate jury has ruled that Boston Scientific must pay rival Medtronic Inc. $250 million in a patent-infringement lawsuit involving devices to remove blockages in coronary arteries. Here are stories from the WSJ and AP.

The jury found that Boston Scientific had infringed three Medtronic patents. Medtronic, based in Minneapolis, sued Boston Scientific in 2006, and the trial began May 16. The suit focused on devices used in coronary angioplasty, which is the clearing of arteries with catheters and tiny balloons that can push fatty plaque out of the way and allow free flow of blood to the heart.

Boston Scientific said that during a July 31 hearing, it will raise “a number of defenses” that were not considered by the jury. If that strategy fails, the company said, it plans to appeal. The company “is confident it will prevail on appeal because it believes the jury verdict is unsupported by both the evidence and the law,” Boston Scientific wrote in a release. Lawyers from McKool Smith represented Medtronic; Howrey represented Boston Scientific.

Heart-device litigation has become a big business for a handful of law firms. The Texas case is but one of dozens of cases that have involved the major players in the $4 billion stent market: Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson and Abbott Labs. Boston Scientific, alone, is involved in more than 15 pending patent lawsuits.

Photo: Associated Press

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 29, 2008 (boomark / email).