Boston Scientific loses $309 million judgment in Mirowski patent war
September 24, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Boston Scientific lost a $309 million judgment today in its long-running patent war with the family of the late physician who helped invent the implantable cardioverter defibrillator, Dr. Michel Mirowski.
A jury in Maryland’s Montgomery County Circuit Court awarded the damages to Mirowski Family Ventures (Mirowski died in 1990), which originally sued Boston Scientific and its Guidant subsidiary over a secret deal with rival St. Jude Medical that allegedly cut Mirowski out of some $570 million in royalties and damages. Read more
Ex-Advanced Medical Optics CEO Mazzo indicted in insider trading case
September 25, 2014 by Brad Perriello
A federal grand jury today indicted former Advanced Medical Optics CEO James Mazzo on insider trading charges stemming from Abbott’s $2.8 billion acquisition of AMO in 2009.
Mazzo, who denied the charges today via his lawyer, allegedly tipped off close friend and neighbor Doug DeCinces about the deal. DeCinces, a former baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles, allegedly passed the information on to former teammate Eddie Murray, who agreed to settle his case for $358,000 but admitted no wrongdoing. Today’s indictment levels 13 counts of insider trading violations against Mazzo, who is now chairman & CEO of AcuFocus and an operating partner at Versant Ventures. Read more
Appeals court denies BD bid to revisit loss to Retractable Technologies
September 22, 2014 by Brad Perriello
A federal appeals court last week denied a bid by Becton Dickinson & Co. to have it review a damages decision in Retractable Technologies’ $7.7 million patent infringement win over BD.
Earlier this summer the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied BD’s motion to have the damages award reconsidered. A lower court had found that BD infringed patents with both its 1ml and 3ml syringes; the appeals court later ruled that only the smaller size was in violation but left the $7.7 million damages award intact. Read more
Ackman threatens to sue Allergan again over potential Salix deal
September 24, 2014 by MassDevice
Billionaire William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management said on Tuesday that it would sue botox-maker Allergan Inc if the company went ahead with a deal to buy drugmaker Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Allergan is trying to seal a deal with Salix in order to stay independent and fend off a $53 billion hostile offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc . Valeant’s offer is backed by Pershing Square – Allergan’s largest shareholder with a 9.72 percent stake. Read more
Judge upholds $30M infringement ruling against NuVasive, cancels trademark
September 25, 2014 by Brad Perriello
A California federal judge yesterday upheld NuVasive’s $30 million trademark infringement loss to NeuroVision Medical Products and formally canceled NuVasive’s rights to the ‘neurovision’ name.
NeuroVision 1st sued NuVasive in 2009, alleging infringement of its namesake trademark. Under Judge Manuel Real of the U.S. District Court for Central California, a jury in October 2010 found that NuVasive infringed the NeuroVision trademark with some of its neuromonitoring products. Read more
