Medical device monolith Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) paid $83.6 million in damages owed in a years-long patent infringement lawsuit with Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW), according to regulatory filings.
Edwards revealed earlier this month that Medtronic had made good on the nearly 6-year-old lawsuit over transcatheter aortic valve replacement patents.
The $83.6 million payment satisfied an April 2010 jury award as well as accrued interest, according to Edwards Lifesciences.
Edwards and CoreValve Inc. began the patent spat when the Irvine, Calif.-based rivals filed suit against each other in 2007. Medtronic inherited the beef when it purchased CoreValve in April 2009 for about $700 million.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in November 2012 ruled that Judge Gregory Sleet of the U.S. District Court for Delaware was right to uphold a jury’s decision that the Edwards patent is valid and infringed by the CoreValve device. Last month the court issued a mandate rendering the jury decision enforceable.
That may not be the last word on the case, Edwards noted in an SEC filing.
"The mandate restores jurisdiction to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware to assess additional damages for the period after the April 2010 jury award and to reconsider Edwards’ request for a permanent injunction," according to the company.
The decision could see Edwards successfully block Medtronic’s CoreValve replacement heart valve from the U.S. market, where the Edwards Sapien valve is the only approved device for transcatheter aortic valve implantation.