Patent Battles Make It That Much More Difficult To Keep People Healthy

from the what-a-shame dept

The problem with the view that patents should be given out for every little improvement (most of which would have come about naturally thanks to market demand) is that you end up with "patent thickets" where a ton of different companies all claim patents on some small part of a larger offering. This isn't just an argument about "ownership" or "rights" in some cases. It can also have direct impact on keeping people alive.

For example, just witness the patent battle going on in the medical device market concerning Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and... famed patent hoarder Acacia. Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic have all been suing each other concerning various patents used in stent and catheter technology. Acacia has now jumped into the fray by acquiring patents from Datascope and setting up yet another shell company called Cardio Access.

In all of these cases, everyone is claiming ownership over some piece of the technology used in stents and catheters, basically suggesting that others can't use that part of the technology without paying them. The end result is that we're all put at greater risk. Either stents and catheters won't be able to be as useful as they should be because they can't use the best possible technology -- or if they do use that technology, they get priced much higher to pay for all of these licenses from everyone else. And, of course, with all of these patent lawsuits (and rewards -- since Boston Scientific has already had to pay out the two largest patent fines this year, totaling $750 million), money that could have been spent on making a better product is instead going into lawsuits.

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Another Judge Slaps Down Another Set Of Medtronic Patent Attorneys

from the uppity-judges dept

We noted recently that a judge was so fed up with a pair of well-known patent attorneys that he not only overturned the verdict, but he made the attorneys pay the opposing side's legal bills. Now, in a totally separate patent battle, yet another judge has done the same exact thing. And, in what may (or may not) be a coincidence, both sets of lawyers were representing Medtronic. In both cases, they ignored the earlier parameters set on how the patent claims could be portrayed in court. It's good to see judges pushing back, though it really does say something that patent attorneys felt they could get away with this.

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Looks Like Judges Are Getting Fed Up With Bogus Patent Lawsuits Too

from the about-time dept

While patent attorneys seem to love filing suits in East Texas, I'm guessing they may try to start avoiding filing suits in Colorado. Slashdot alerts us to the news that a District Court Judge in Colorado didn't just overturn a jury's ruling of patent infringement by BrainLAB against Medtronic, he also scolded Medtronic's lawyers for "abusive" behavior and demanded those lawyers pay BrainLAB's legal bills. Specifically, the judge, Richard P. Matsch, found that the two litigators who argued the case on Medtronic's behalf ignored the limitations and misled the jury. As Matsch noted:

"At trial, [McDermott]'s conduct was in disregard for the duty of candor, reflecting an attitude of 'what can I get away with?' Throughout the trial, the [McDermott] lawyers artfully avoided the limitations of the patent claims and created an illusion of infringement. They did so with full awareness that their case was without merit."

It's also worth pointing out that the two lawyers in question are generally well-respected (and expensive) IP litigators, rather than just random lawyers (as you might otherwise assume from the judge's comments). Yet, given how freely the court system has allowed patent litigation to run rampant, it's no surprise to see some patent attorneys push the envelope. However, it really is great to see a judge smack them down in such a strong manner, as it may wake up some other patent attorneys.

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