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.
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