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15 January 2018Americas

Settlement reached in long-running tissue patent dispute

Biopharmaceutical company MiMedx Group has settled a long-standing patent infringement dispute with the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF), Medline  Industries and Liventa Bioscience.

All parties submitted a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice to the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Thursday, January 11. The court granted the request for dismissal and gave final judgment on the same day.

MiMedx, a developer of regenerative and therapeutic biologics, first filed the lawsuit in April 2014 and submitted an amended claim in 2016. It claimed that the other parties were infringing US patent number 8,709,494, which covers a particular method for preparing placenta membrane tissue grafts for medical use.

The defendants all operate in the area of medical development, specifically relating to allograft tissue development (MTF), medical supply distribution (Medline) and orthopaedic biologics (Liventa).

The complaint also accused Liventa and Medline of false advertising to providers, patients and prospective investors. A confidential settlement was reached in June 2016 for the false advertising claims against Liventa, and the patent infringement lawsuit was scheduled to go before a federal court in January 2018.

However, the parties unanimously submitted their stipulation of dismissal following successful attempts to settle the matter.

Within the final judgment, given by Judge Mark Cohen, MiMedx obtained a consent decree and final judgment on the validity of its patent.

MiMedx will also receive an undisclosed sum of money and the defendants agreed to alter the processes used to manufacture the accused products to avoid future conflict with the patent, according to the release.

Parker Petit, chairman and CEO of MiMedx, said: “This settlement marks an amicable and successful end to this long-fought case. We are extremely pleased with the outcome. MiMedx has spent many millions of dollars in the development of our proprietary products, and we will continue to protect our intellectual property rights.

“However, I have always said that the true test of our intellectual property would be in the market place and, clearly, our market leadership and performance attest to that criterion.”

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