A federal jury in San Francisco awarded Covidien plc (MKT:COV) subsidiary VNUS Medical Technologies Inc. $46 million in a patent infringement trial over a laser-based method for treating varicose veins.
The verdict in the U.S. District Court for Northern California went against Total Vein Solutions LLC and Biolitec AG, which must pay $36.5 and $9.3 million, respectively.
Houston-based TVS plans to challenge the jury’s decision, which also invalidated some of VNUS’s patent claims for a endovenous laser ablation method.