US appeals court revives Axonics challenges to Medtronic device patents

Axonics

10/07/2023 18:37

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      Axonics gets a new chance to invalidate two Medtronic
nerve-stimulation patents
    

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      Related Medtronic lawsuit scheduled for trial in August
    

  
    By Blake Brittain
       July 10 (Reuters) - Medical technology company Medtronic
 MDT.N  must defend itself again from challenges brought by
rival Axonics  AXNX.O  to two of its patents related to
nerve-stimulation technology, a U.S. appeals court said on
Monday.
    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that
the U.S. Patent Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board analyzed
the case incorrectly and sent it back for the board to
reconsider its decisions that the patents were valid.
    Medtronic has sued Axonics for infringing the two patents
and five others in California federal court. That lawsuit is set
to go to trial next month.
    Representatives for the companies did not immediately
respond to requests for comment on the Federal Circuit's
decision.
    Medtronic's patents relate to technology for stimulating
sacral nerves in the lower back to treat bladder and bowel
control issues. It sued Axonics in 2019, accusing the company's
r-SNM nerve-stimulation system of infringing the patents
covering Medtronic's competing InterStim system.
    Medtronic has asked the court for money damages including
royalties and lost profits. 
    Axonics told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that two of
Medtronic's patents were invalid based on preexisting patents
and other publications that had already disclosed the same
technology. The board ruled for Medtronic in 2021. 
    A three-judge Federal Circuit panel said on Monday that the
board mistakenly reasoned that Medtronic's patents would not
have been obvious from the earlier publications. The appeals
court said the board's errors were harmful enough to justify
rehearing the cases.
    Axonics separately sued Medtronic in California federal
court last year, accusing the company of monopolizing the market
for the systems and making false statements about its products.
    
    The case is Axonics Inc v. Medtronic Inc, U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Nos. 22-1451 and 22-1452.
    For Axonics: William Nelson of Tensegrity Law Group
    For Medtronic: Chetan Bansal of Paul Hastings
 

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)
 ((blake.brittain@tr.com; +1 (202) 938-5713;))