Research by Hayes+Associates, Inc., a Corvallis, Ore., consulting firm, and testimony by H+A President Wilson C. “Toby” Hayes, Ph.D., helped convince a federal jury in Wilmington, Delaware, that three patents owned by Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ) DePuy Synthes unit, a maker of artificial spinal-repair products, were infringed by intervertebral-implant products sold by Globus Medical Inc. (GMED). As reported by Bloomberg reporter Phil Milford, on June 14, after a two-week trial on the matter, the jury overseen by U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark awarded Synthes $16 million in damages.
The jury also decided that the DePuy Synthes patents were valid, according to court records.
Globus, based in Audubon, Pennsylvania, was sued in 2011 by DePuy Synthes, the patent owners, who claimed that Globus had willfully infringed the patents-in-suit by making, selling or importing its Independence ALIF System, Coalition ACDF System and InterContinental Plate-Spacer products, and asked the court for injunctive relief and treble damages. They also sought an order that Globus recall and destroy its entire stock of infringing products in the U.S.