MUNICH, Germany and WESTCHESTER, Ill., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the dismissal of the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Medtronic against BrainLAB AG in 1998. The appellate court affirmed a previous district court ruling that BrainLAB image-guided surgery and radiotherapy products do not infringe any of the patents in suit.
In February 2006, the US District Court in Denver, Colorado, dismissed Medtronic’s patent infringement lawsuit, finding that BrainLAB products do not infringe any of Medtronic’s patents in suit. The district court concluded that a September 2005 jury verdict, where the jury found that BrainLAB infringed four patents held or licensed by Medtronic and awarded Medtronic US$51 million, was in error and not supported by the evidence.
Medtronic has the possibility to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
“We are pleased that the Court of Appeals has affirmed the district court ruling in this case. The court has confirmed that BrainLAB imaging technology does not infringe the patents in suit and we look forward to further developing our surgical navigation business,” commented Stefan Vilsmeier, founder and CEO of BrainLAB.
About BrainLAB AG
BrainLAB develops, manufactures and markets software-driven medical technology that enables procedures that are more precise, less invasive, and therefore less expensive than traditional treatments. Among the core products are image-guided systems that provide highly accurate real-time information used for navigation during surgical procedures. This utility has been further expanded to serve as a computer terminal for physicians to more effectively access and interpret diagnostic scans and other digital medical information for better informed decisions. BrainLAB solutions allow expansion from a single system to operating suites to digitally integrated hospitals covering all subspecialties from neurosurgery, orthopedics, ENT, CMF to spine & trauma and oncology. With more than 2,500 systems installed in over 65 countries, BrainLAB is a market leader in image-guided technology. The privately held BrainLAB group, founded in 1989, is headquartered in Munich, Germany and today employs around 900 people in 15 offices across Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America.
For more information, visit BrainLAB at http://www.brainlab.com .
BrainLAB
CONTACT: Kate Franco, Marketing Coordinator of BrainLAB, Inc., T:+1-708-486-1915, M: +1-708-638-3482
Web site: http://www.brainlab.com/
