The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal board granted a rehearing request to Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) for an inter partes review of a patent held by UAB Research Foundation related to treating cardiac arrhythmias.
Boston Scientific filed a petition for an inter partes review over claims related to the patent and was denied last September, but was granted the request for rehearing yesterday after the board deemed that the company “established a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on its assertions” over claims that the patent in question could be anticipated.
The rehearing was granted based on an analysis that identified misplaced decimal point in the original decision, according to court documents.
The spat spans back to 2014, when the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the UAB Research Foundation filed a lawsuit against Boston Scientific and Cardiac Pacemakers, saying that the companies infringed on its patent by making, using, offering and selling cardiac resynchonization therapy defibrillators, according to Lexology.
Last October, Boston Scientific escaped a long-running royalties dispute with coronary stent pioneer Dr. David Jang that could have cost it $200 million.
Judge Virginia Phillips of the U.S. District Court for Central California found Sept. 29 that Jang’s claims covered previous patents, triggering the ensnarement defense barring a patentee from asserting a scope of equivalency that would encompass, or ensnare, the prior art.
The case dates back to 1999, when Jang won approval from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for a stent design featuring lateral struts. In 2002, Jang inked a deal worth up to $160 million to license the patents to Boston Scientific; Jang received $50 million up front, according to court documents, but only $10 million of the remaining $110 million in milestone payments.
