Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) lost a bid to quash an antitrust lawsuit accusing it of using unfair business practices to drive bone mill maker Lenox MacLaren Surgical out of business.
A federal judge in Colorado denied the Fridley, Minn.-based medical device maker’s motion to force the issue into arbitration, ruling against Medtronic move to enforce an arbitration provision in the license agreement between it and Lenox MacLaren — which expired in 2001.
Medtronic is “unable to point to any provision of the License Agreement that they could enforce against Lenox, wrote Judge Richard Matsch of the U.S. District Court for Colorado. “To permit the defendants to shield themselves from trial by invoking the arbitration provision in the License Agreement would deny the plaintiff a fair opportunity to present its claims to a jury.”
