Johnson & Johnson secured a win yesterday after a US district court in Delaware found that Boston Scientific’s stents had infringed patents held by the former’s Cordis subsidiary.
Specifically, the court ruled that Boston Scientific’s Taxus drug-eluting stent and its Liberte and Express bare metal stents infringed Cordis’ key Palmaz patent for balloon expandable stents. In addition, Boston Scientific’s bare metal Liberte stent was also found to infringe another Cordis patent – known as the Gray patent – which relates to flexible balloon expandable stents, and is not set to expire until 2016.
A new jury is scheduled to convene in August for a trial to determine the amount of damages owed to Cordis and whether the infringement was willful. If the jury finds willful infringement, the judge can as much as triple the damages.
J&J is planning to file a similar claim against the drug-eluting version of Boston Scientific’s Liberte stent once it is launched in the USA. “We are confident that the finding of infringement of the Gray patent by the bare-metal Liberte stent will also apply to the drug-eluting version of Liberte, and Cordis will strongly assert its patent claim against it if and when the product is launched,” said Nick Valeriani, worldwide chairman of cardiovascular devices and diagnostics.
Boston Scientific said that it was disappointed in the jury’s decision and that it would likely launch an appeal.
