US Supreme Court grants Medtronic’s GVR petition

The US Supreme Court has ordered a re-hearing of a spinal surgery patent dispute after it granted Medtronic’s grant, vacate, and remand (GVR) petition in its row with NuVasive.

Yesterday, January 19, the court ordered the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to revisit its decision that found Medtronic liable for direct infringement because it was aware of the existence of NuVasive’s patent.

NuVasive’s patent, US number 7,470,236, covers a method for monitoring a patient’s nerves during spinal surgery.

Medtronic supplies its NIM-Eclipse device, used during spinal surgery and which allegedly infringes NuVasive’s patent, to surgeons in the US.

In 2012, following a lawsuit filed by NuVasive, the US District Court for the Southern District of California ruled against Medtronic finding that it had infringed the patent. The decision was upheld by the federal circuit in March last year.

Once a GVR petition is granted, the decision of the lower court is vacated and the case must be re-heard again.

In May, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Commil USA v Cisco.

In a single ruling, the court said that a good-faith belief that a patent is invalid is not a defence against infringement and that a defending party must be aware that its acts are infringing in order to be liable for contributory infringement.

Medtronic filed its writ in July last year, arguing that the federal circuit should review its ruling of contributory infringement in light of the Supreme Court’s clarification in Commil.

In its writ, Medtronic stated that “there is not a shred of evidence” that it knew surgeons using the NIM-Eclipse would infringe NuVasive’s patent.

“Since first learning of NuVasive’s patent, Medtronic reasonably believed using its NIM-Eclipse device during surgery did not infringe under a proper reading of the patent,” it said.

NuVasive hit back stating that Medtronic was aware that its actions were inducing others to infringe because it had notified the company prior to asserting its lawsuit.

The case will head back to the federal circuit.