Getinge announced today that a court delivered a verdict in favor of Johnson & Johnson’s Abiomed in a patent spat with its Maquet subsidiary.
In 2016, Johnson & Johnson’s heart pump-making unit, Abiomed, sued Getinge’s Maquet for a judgment of non-infringement of a trio of patents. Counter-suits later brought the number of disputed patents to six.
Last year, Maquet won an appeal on a decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts that Abiomed did not infringe on certain claims relating to U.S. patent No. 10,238,783 (783). Maquet did not challenge a judgment of non-infringement on a separate (238) patent.
Today, Getinge says its subsidiary failed to get that Massachusetts court to side with it once again. The court delivered a verdict in favor of Abiomed, finding that the company has not infringed on any Maquet patents related to intravascular heart pump technology. This decision does not affect a second, ongoing patent litigation between companies. Getinge says the verdict has no negative financial or operational impact on Getinge.
“The patent infringement dispute concerned allegations of infringement in patents held by Maquet relating to intravascular heart pump technology used in cardiovascular care,” Maquet said. “The technology used in Abiomeds’ Impella percutaneous ventricular assist device (pVAD) was found not to infringe any of Maquets’ intravascular heart pump patents. Maquet is evaluating the case and considering its options.”
