Smith & Nephew Scores Another Patent Victory Over Arthrex

Smith & Nephew plc scored a win in its ongoing patent battle with rival Arthrex Inc., as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled in favor of one of the company’s patents for suture anchor technology.

The decision builds on a decade-long showdown between the two companies over Smith & Nephew’s patent for “Anchoring and manipulating tissue,” the company reports. In 2004, Smith & Nephew sued Arthrex for infringing its patent in anchor devices used in shoulder repair surgery and won $20.5 million in 2008 when a court ruled that Arthrex willfully copied the technology. But an appeals court overturned the decision in November 2009, and the case went back to trial for further deliberation.

Smith & Nephew chalked up another victory in 2011, when a jury found Arthrex guilty of infringing the company’s patents with its SutureTak, PushLock and Bio-PushLock shoulder repair anchors and awarded Smith & Nephew $85 million. Arthrex appealed, and in December 2011 an Oregon judge ruled in the company’s favor. But a federal circuit court overturned the decision, sending the case back to Oregon district court.

In October 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman of Oregon ordered Naples, Fla.-based Arthrex to stop selling its two surgical device product lines until the patent term expires. Arthrex is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of that decision.

Meanwhile, Smith & Nephew is facing battles on other fronts, defending against claims over its metal hip replacements. In December 2013, the devicemaker celebrated a victory when a U.S. District Court judge threw out a patient’s lawsuit alleging the company’s metal hip replacement left her in pain and required follow-up surgery. Smith & Nephew had voluntarily recalled its R3 Acetabular system in June 2012 due to performance concerns and a high rate of revision surgeries, but U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer of New York dismissed the plaintiff’s claims because the liner had pre-market application approval, thus shielding it from design defect claims.