NuVasive Inc. (NSDQ:NUVA) said today that Cadwell Laboratories agreed to settle a patent spat over neuromonitoring technology by exiting the lateral spine market and potentially paying 5% royalties to NuVasive for future products.
The settlement lays to rest the patent infringement lawsuit NuVasive filed against Cadwell in December 2012, which accused the diagnostic and monitoring products maker of infringing NuVasive’s integration of nerve monitoring technology during lateral approach spine surgery, according to a press release.
"As part of the settlement reached between the parties, Cadwell has agreed to exit the lateral spine surgery market, and to no longer provide products, services, or support for lateral approach spine fusion surgeries. In addition, certain of Cadwell’s future products (that rely on NuVasive patented technology) may be required to openly attribute intellectual property ownership to NuVasive and may require a 5% fee paid to NuVasive," according to the release.
"At NuVasive, we take immense pride in the investments we have made to be a dominant innovator in the spine market, and we intend to aggressively protect those investments. Our neuromonitoring technology is best in class and is central to the facilitation of surgical reproducibility and safety in less invasive spine procedures. I am exceptionally pleased that the solid intellectual property that surrounds our neuromonitoring technology has once again been validated," chairman & CEO Alex Lukianov added in prepared remarks.
The spat with Cadwell involves the same technology that handed NuVasive its only win in another patent infringement case with Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) in September 2011. A federal jury in San Diego issued a split verdict in that case, awarding $101.2 million to Medtronic and $660,000 to its smaller spine rival, finding that Medtronic’s NIM-Eclipse System infringed the patent, which covers NuVasive’s NVM5 system.