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Surgery Tool Maker Sues Rival Over Drill Guide Patent

CLEARWATER, Fla., Oct 21, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Clearwater-based Orthopedic Development Corporation (ODC), the maker of the TruFUSE(R) spinal surgery system, has accused a rival of infringing both the patent and trade dress for a drill guide in one of the first patent design suits to be filed since the Federal Circuit handed down its standard-altering Egyptian Goddess ruling. ODC lodged the suit, as well as a motion for a preliminary injunction, on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleging that the design of NuTech Medical Inc.'s NuFix drill is substantially the same as its own. The complaint describes the patented instrument as "an elongated hollow metal tube with a handle at one end and a number of teeth, including two large opposed teeth, as the opposite end." The drill guide is part of a system used to treat facet joint disorders, or the degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis, the complaint says. According to the suit, the drill guide allows the surgeon to maneuver the drill to the proper vertebrae area for treatment. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued the patent for the drill guide, U.S. Patent Number D574,495, on Aug. 8. ODC makes and markets the surgery system through minSURG, a wholly owned subsidiary, according to the suit. In the complaint, ODC accuses NuTech of infringing the '495 patent both directly and contributorily by making, using and selling its NuFix drill guide and by distributing it to hospitals and surgeons. The NuFix drill guide also infringes the trade dress of ODC's product, the suit contends, because "it is substantially similar, if not identical, to ODC's trade dress," the complaint says. To continue reading click here.

Full post as published by The Trade Secrets Vault on October 21, 2008 (boomark / email).