Cordis Corp. and pharma giant Wyeth asked a Minnesota judge to dismiss a counter-suit filed by Boston Scientific Corp. over a patent for stent coatings.
The Johnson & Johnson subsidiary and Wyeth sued BSX and Abbott Sept. 22 in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey, alleging infringement of a coatings patent for coronary stents with Abbott’s Xience V stent (which BoSci sells as the Promus).
Later that day, the Natick-based devices leviathan filed its own lawsuit against Cordis and Wyeth in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, seeking a declaratory judgment that the same patent is invalid and not infringed by the same Xience/Promus stent, but omitting Abbott as a party in the suit.
“Having both cases proceed makes no sense,” the lawyers wrote. “With both cases moving forward, BSC and Cordis would have to litigate the same dispute simultaneously in two separate forums. Two different Courts will have to construe the same disputed claim terms, raising the possibility of inconsistent rulings. Multiple jury trials may need to be held, because a Cordis victory against BSC here would not resolve Cordis’s New Jersey claim against Abbott.”
The lawsuits follow a seeming détente between Cordis and Boston Scientific, which inked a deal in September to settle a dozen patent infringement cases in the U.S. and Europe in exchange for a $716 million payment from BSX.
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