A federal district court granted a preliminary injunction sought by
Covidien against a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson related to the
alleged infringement of three surgical device patents held by Covidien.
The decision by the U.S. District Court in Connecticut prevents
J&J’s unit Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. from making, marketing, and
selling the ultrasonic surgical tool Harmonic ACE+7 Shears.
“Covidien operates within a highly competitive global health care
environment. We are pleased that the court has recognized the value of
our intellectual property. As demonstrated by our actions, we will
vigorously protect our innovative products, solutions and intellectual
property,” Chris Barry, president, Advanced Surgical, Covidien said.
J&J said it would appeal the court’s decision, and pointed out
that the suit does not involve Harmonic ACE+7’s adaptive tissue
technology, which the company says is the product’s innovative feature,
according to the WSJ report.
In the suit filed against Ethicon in June, Covidien alleged that the
J&J subsidiary’s Harmonic ACE+7 infringed on three U.S. patents,
namely 6,063,050, 6,468,286, and 6,682,544. Covidien said that the same court had earlier ruled that the patents were infringed by other Ethicon surgical ultrasonic devices.
The federal court in Connecticut has previously recognized the value of
Covidien’s intellectual property in this area and, with this new
lawsuit, we will continue to vigorously protect both our innovations and
intellectual property,” Lawrence Weiss, vice president and general
counsel, Surgical Solutions, Covidien, said.
