A patent spat between St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) and Occlutech GmbH that morphed into a personal lawsuit against Occlutech CEO Tor Peters was dismissed by a German court, prompting Peters to call the suit "amazing and quite shocking."
St. Jude inherited the case, involving intravascular occlusion devices, after it acquired AGA Medical for more than $1 billion last year.
Each side has logged victories since the case first hit German courts in 2006, with Jena, Germany-based Occlutech eventually coming out on top in a ruling by the German Supreme Court in May. St. Jude slapped Occlutech and Peters with another set of lawsuits the next month.
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Occlutech said this week that a district court in Düsseldorf dismissed the personal suit against Peters "privately for alleged violation of patent EP 808 138" covering St. Jude’s Amplatzer occlusion device platform.
"It is amazing and quite shocking to see a company that you would normally consider ethical, going to such length in trying to kill a competitor by also going after private individuals with this kind of massive and unjustified litigation," Peters said in prepared remarks. "Obviously we are very happy that the courts in Germany now ruled in our favor as courts in the U.K., the Netherlands and Sweden have done before."
Occlutech, which reeled in $21.6 million last month, said the latest ruling is subject to an appeal by St. Jude.
Read more medical device legal news from MassDevice.com
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