MUNICH, Germany or WESTCHESTER, Ill., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, the US District Court for the District of Colorado awarded $4.38 million in attorney fees, costs and expenses to BrainLAB AG for a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Medtronic, Inc.
The court ruled that BrainLAB was entitled to recover the amount from Medtronic and its law firm McDermott, Will & Emery LLP ("MWE"), previously stating that "Medtronic's and MWE's pursuit of meritless litigation to eliminate competition in the medical products market requires remediation." BrainLAB was represented in the case by the law firms Renner, Otto, Boisselle & Sklar LLP (lead counsel) and Baker & Hostetler LLP.
The patent infringement lawsuit filed by Medtronic against BrainLAB in 1998 was dismissed by the US District Court in Denver, Colorado, in February 2006, which ruled that BrainLAB products do not infringe any of Medtronic's patents in suit.
The District Court concluded that a September 2005 verdict, which found that BrainLAB had infringed four patents held or licensed by Medtronic, was in error and could not be supported by evidence. Medtronic's award of US $51 million in damages was overturned in the process.
In February 2007, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the dismissal. The District Court determined in February 2008 that BrainLAB was entitled to its attorney fees and expenses.
Medtronic and its law firm may appeal the decision.
About BrainLAB
BrainLAB develops, manufactures and markets software-driven medical technology that enables procedures that are more precise, less invasive, and also less expensive than traditional treatments. Among the core products are image-guided systems that provide highly accurate real-time information used for navigation during surgical procedures. This utility has been further expanded to serve as a computer terminal for physicians to more effectively access and interpret diagnostic scans and other digital medical information for better informed decisions. BrainLAB solutions allow expansion from a single system to operating suites to digitally integrated hospitals covering all subspecialties from neurosurgery, orthopedics, ENT, CMF to spine & trauma and oncology. With more than 3,000 systems installed in over 70 countries, BrainLAB is a market leader in image-guided technology. The privately held BrainLAB group, founded in 1989, is headquartered in Munich, Germany and today employs 1,000 people in 16 offices across Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America.
For more information, visit BrainLAB at http://www.brainlab.com.
CONTACT: Eva Schuster, Communications Manager of BrainLAB AG, +49 89
991568-312, Mobile, +49 151 15153819, eva.schuster@brainlab.com, or Kate
Franco, Marketing Communications Manager of BrainLAB Inc., +1-708-486-1915,
kate.franco@brainlab.com
Web site: http://www.brainlab.com/
