Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
New Jersey – In February of 2005, Attorneys for Plaintiff, Howmedica Osteonics Corp., of Mahwah, New Jersey filed suit in the District Court of New Jersey alleging that Defendants, Zimmer, Inc. of Warsaw, Indiana, Centerpulse Orthopedics, Inc. of Austin, Texas, and Smith & Nephew, Inc. of Memphis, Tennessee infringed its
rights in United States Patent No. 6,174,934 (“the ‘934 Patent”) for “Non-oxidizing Polymeric Medical Implant”, United States Patent No. 6,372,814 (“the ‘814 Patent”) for “Non-oxidizing Polymeric Medical Implant”, United States Patent No. 6,664,308 (“the 308 Patent”) for “Non-oxidizing Polymeric Medical Implant”, and United States Patent No. 6,818,020 (“the ‘020 Patent”) for “Non-oxidizing Polymeric Medical Implant”. Plaintiff sought judgment for damages including interest and costs, treble damages, expenses, and attorneys’ fees.
Plaintiff is a corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes orthopedic products, generally used in hip and knee procedures and other bone replacement procedures. Defendant is a corporation based in Warsaw, Indiana, that also focuses on products for joint and extremity replacements.
Plaintiff sued for patent infringement in 2005, and after 13 years of litigation, Defendant successfully defended itself, and all four of Plaintiff’s patents ended up invalidated. The four patents were related to biomedical materials used in hip and knee replacements.
Once the patents were invalidated, Defendant moved for an award of attorney’s fees, which Judge William H. Walls in the District of New Jersey granted to the tune of $13 million.
The case was filed in the District Court of New Jersey and assigned Case 2:05-cv-00897-WHW-CLW before District Court Judge William H. Walls and Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor.