Minerva Surgical today claimed a win in its patent infringement war with Hologic (NSDQ:HOLX) over endometrial ablation technology, after a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that invalidates one of the Hologic patents in question.
The convoluted battle involves the NovaSure device Hologic acquired with the 2007 buyout of Cytyc (which had acquired NovaSure developer Novacept in 2004). Hologic sued Minerva in November 2015, alleging infringement of a pair of patents after Novacept CEO Csaba Truckai founded Minerva in 2008 to develop the competing Aurora device.
A jury in July 2018 awarded Hologic $4.2 million in damages and $587,000 for lost royalties; in May, a federal judge denied Minerva’s bid for a new trial. (Minerva sued Hologic for patent infringement in April 2017; that case is still under way after being transferred to the Delaware court in February).
In a separate matter, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in April upheld a Patent Trial & Appeals Board decision invalidating one of the Hologic patents, known as the ‘183 patent. Today Minerva said that court issued a final mandate formally ending Hologic’s appeal.
That means that Minerva can keep Aurora on the market, the Redwood City, Calif.-based company said.