Covidien (NYSE:COV) yesterday leveled another patent infringement lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE:JNJ) Ethicon Endo-Surgery division, alleging that the latest iteration in Ethicon’s ultrasound surgical shears infringes 3 Covidien patents.
The lawsuit alleges that Ethicon’s Harmonic ACE+7 ultrasound shears violate the same trio of Covidien patents Ethicon was found to infringe last year.
That lawsuit resulted in a $177 million judgment against Ethicon in March 2013, when Judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled that Ethicon Endo-Surgery infringed 6 claims in 3 patents held by Covidien’s corporate predecessors, Tyco Healthcare and U.S. Surgical Corp., with products including its Autosonix and LCS ultrasonic scalpels (Covidien’s competing products include its Harmonic shears). Ethicon has appealed that ruling.
"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," Covidien’s surgical solutions general counsel Lawrence Weis said in prepared remarks.
The new lawsuit, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for Connecticut, accuses Ethicon of ignoring Arteron’s ruling in releasing the ACE+7 shears, according to court documents.
"In spite of this court’s Memorandum of Decision, Ethicon announced the commercial launch of the ACE+7 on or around May 19, 2014, without making any material design changes to avoid infringing Covidien’s asserted patents. Like Ethicon’s other infringing Harmonic ACE products, the ACE+7 continues to practice Covidien’s proprietary technologies claimed in the asserted patents, including but not limited to the ‘curved blade’ and ‘dual cam’ inventions," according to the documents. "Throughout the last half decade, Ethicon has demonstrated a pattern of infringement by continuing to incorporate Covidien’s patented innovations into each new ultrasonic product it introduces under the Harmonic ACE brand. Since as early as this Court’s October 9, 2007, summary judgment ruling, Ethicon has been on notice that its Harmonic ACE products practice the Asserted Patents’ claims, including the products’ "curved blade" feature. Yet, to this day, Ethicon continues to market and introduce "next generation" Harmonic ACE products that contain the very same infringing features. The accused ACE+7 is the most recent example. There is simply no end in sight to Ethicon’s persistent infringement of the Asserted Patents, which is causing, and will continue to cause, Covidien irreparable injury."
Covidien is seeking judgments of infringement and willful infringement (which would potentially triple any damages award), injunctions barring the sale of the ACE+7 device, and legal costs, according to court records.