Boston Scientific loses stent patent case in uni feud

Delaware jury finds that the infringement was intentional | Verdict comes in a long-running dispute that touched upon state sovereignty.

Boston Scientific faces a $42 million patent infringement verdict after a Delaware jury found that its Synergy brand of coronary stents infringed a patent held by the University of Texas (UT) and exclusively licensed to TissueGen.

The US District Court for the District of Delaware delivered the decision yesterday, February 1.

The Board of Regents of the University of Texas and TissueGen sued the medical device company in 2017, arguing that they were owed royalties following the intentional infringement of US patent number US patent number 6,596,296.

The patent, issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2015, covers implantable drug-releasing biodegradable fibres.

As the jurors agreed with the university and Tissue Gen that the infringement was intentional, the court now has the option to increase the award.

The five-year legal battle has had many twists and turns, and also highlighted questions concerning the principle of state sovereignty.

State sovereignty traditionally affords state-owned institutions a different legal status to private entities.

In the original complaint, UT argued that it was entitled to sue in Texas because “it would offend the dignity of the state to require it to pursue persons who have harmed the state outside the territory of Texas”.

But the district court sided with Boston Scientific and transferred the case to the District of Delaware where the company is based.

In 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected the university’s arguments in support of sovereign immunity and affirmed the district court’s decision to transfer the case to Delaware.

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