US Supreme Court knocks back two medical device disputes

The US Supreme Court has rejected both Nautilus’s and Covidien’s attempt to reverse patent infringement judgments in two separate disputes centring on medical devices.

Yesterday, November 30, Nautilus’s attempt to get a second hearing of its dispute with Biosig at the Supreme Court was dismissed.

The dispute centred on the standard of indefiniteness applied by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit  in determining the validity of a patent.

The Supreme Court ruled last year in Nautilus v Biosig that US courts must assess whether a patent claim provides “reasonable certainty” to those skilled in the art, rejecting the “insolubly ambiguous” standard used by US courts.

Following a remand from the Supreme Court, the federal circuit maintained that Biosig’s heart rate monitor patent asserted against Nautilus was valid and infringed.

Nautilus petitioned the Supreme Court again but yesterday’s dismissal of the case means the decision still stands in favour of Biosig.

Medtronic-owned Covidien also failed to persuade the Supreme Court to re-hear its case arguing for the restoration of its $176 million damages award in its dispute with Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The dispute centred on three patents covering surgical precision tools.

Covidien had initially succeeded in obtaining an infringement judgment against Ethicon at the US District Court for the District of Connecticut in 2013 .

But last year, the federal circuit reversed the judgment.