BrainLAB wins patent infringement case

On Friday, the U.S. District Court in Denver, Colorado, dismissed the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Medtronic against BrainLAB in 1998.

The Court ruled that, as a matter of law, BrainLAB's image-guided surgery/radiotherapy products do not infringe any of the patents in suit, determining that the evidence does not support a finding of infringement.

In September 2005, a Denver jury had reached a verdict finding that BrainLAB infringed four patents held or licensed by Medtronic, and determined that a reasonable royalty on BrainLAB product sales in the United States amounted to $51 million. The Court's ruling set aside that jury verdict and precludes the injunction Medtronic had been seeking.

"We are pleased to see that the Court has confirmed the uniqueness of our image-guided technology and that our technology does not infringe Medtronic's patents," said Stefan Vilsmeier, BrainLAB founder and CEO. "We look forward to continued success in our surgical navigation business and to supplying our partners with our advanced technology."