Arthrex Serves Second Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Smith & Nephew plc

NAPLES, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arthrex today announced it has served a patent infringement lawsuit against Smith & Nephew and its wholly-owned subsidiary, ArthroCare, Corp in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. The lawsuit, which is the second patent infringement lawsuit the Company has filed against Smith & Nephew and ArthroCare, Corp, alleges two new counts of infringement relating to Arthrex’s knotless anchor technology sold throughout the world.

“Since its foundation, Arthrex has been committed to the mission of helping surgeons treat their patients better, and part of this mission necessarily involves protecting our inventions”

The first lawsuit against Smith & Nephew and ArthroCare, Corp was filed in the same court on June 18, 2015 alleging forty-seven (47) counts of infringement relating to twelve (12) Arthrex patents. The new lawsuit brings the total to forty-nine (49) counts relating to the following thirteen (13) Arthrex patents:

9,179,907, 8,821,541, 8,801,755, 8,623,052, 8,343,186, 7,329,272, 7,322,986, 7,195,634, 6,875,216, 6,629,977, 6,511,499, 6,214,031, 5,993,451

The new lawsuit alleges that Smith & Nephew and ArthroCare, Corp infringed on these patents and is seeking an injunction and damages on their manufacturing and sale of various lines of implants, including SpeedScrew, SpeedLock, SpeedLock Hip, LabraLock P, MultiFix, BioRaptor Knotless, Footprint PK, TwinFix and Ultra suture anchors, which are sold by Smith & Nephew to compete with Arthrex’s PushLock and SwiveLock implants.

“Since its foundation, Arthrex has been committed to the mission of helping surgeons treat their patients better, and part of this mission necessarily involves protecting our inventions,” said John Schmieding, General Counsel at Arthrex. “We have full confidence in the strength of our patent position and will not sit back and allow this systematic, serial infringement of our patents, which ultimately harms the growth and advancement of orthopaedic medicine and the patients that benefit from those innovations.”

Arthrex, headquartered in Naples, FL, is a global leader in orthopaedic product development and medical education for orthopaedic surgeons. More than 9,000 products for arthroscopic and minimally invasive orthopaedic surgical procedures have been developed by Arthrex and are currently marketed worldwide. For more information, visit www.arthrex.com.