Covidien files patent infringement lawsuit against Ethicon Endo-Surgery

Covidien (NYSE: COV), a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that, through its family of companies, a lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut against Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, relating to Ethicon’s Harmonic® line of ultrasonic surgical products.

“We will vigorously protect our innovations with our intellectual property”

“We will vigorously protect our innovations with our intellectual property,” said Ralph Corradi, Vice President, Endomechanical Franchise, Covidien.

The lawsuit contends that U.S. Patents 6,063,050; 6,468,286; and 6,682,544 are infringed by many of Ethicon’s Harmonic® devices. Many of these same devices were found to infringe two of the same patents in a prior suit in the same court. A December 2009 appeals court decision in the prior case permitted the filing of this new lawsuit following dismissal of the prior suit on other grounds. The new suit asks the federal court to enjoin Ethicon from continuing to make and sell the Harmonic® devices named in the lawsuit, and to grant damages for these infringements.