A federal jury in Delaware determined that Life Spine must pay Globus Medical (NYSE:GMED) $9.5 million in a patent infringement suit.
The jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware determined that four models of Life Spine’s spinal implants infringed Globus’ U.S. Patent No. 8,845,731 (the 731 patent). It ruled that the company’s 2019 Prolift, Micro, Lateral and Lateral Fixated infringed the Globus patent.
Additionally, the jury ruled on a separate patent (No. 10,925,752), siding with Life Spine in that case. The verdict sheet shows that the jury ruled unanimously on both patents, first in favor of Globus for 731, then in favor of Life Spine for 752.
As a result of the infringement on 731, the jury ruled that Globus is entitled to a total of $9.5 million in damages. That includes $6 million for lost profits and $3.5 million for reasonable royalty damages.
The 731 patent covers an expandable fusion device capable of being installed inside an intervertebral disc space to maintain normal disc spacing and restore spinal stability. This facilitates an intervertebral fusion.
In one embodiment, the fusion device includes a central ramp, a first endplate and a second endplate. The central ramp can move in a first direction to move the first endplate. The second endplates can go outwardly and into an expanded configuration. Users can deploy the fusion device down an endoscopic tube.
