Mirowski Family Ventures is on the hook for legal fees in its long-running patent infringement war with Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) involving patents licensed to Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX).
A federal judge in Delaware ruled last week that MFV must cover legal costs in the case, which made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court last year.
MFV represents the estate of Dr. Michel Mirowski, who helped invent the implantable defibrillator. The group, which controls several patents related to implantable cardioverter defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices, has been pursuing patent infringement cases against both Medtronic and Boston Scientific for years.
In January 2014, the Supremes ruled unanimously that MFV must prove Medtronic’s devices were in violation, even though Medtronic filed the original patent challenge in 2003, while still under a sub-license agreement for the technology. The high court in October 2014 declined to hear MFV’s petition that it revisit a lower court decision that Medtronic did not infringe MFV’s patents, which were sub-licensed to Medtronic through Guidant’s then-owner, Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY). Boston Scientific acquired Guidant in 2006.
Last week Judge Susan Robinson of the U.S. District Court for Delaware ruled that MFV must cover the legal costs in the case, according to court documents.
In late September 2014, a Maryland circuit court ordered that Boston Scientific pay MFV $309 million in back royalties and damages.