Stryker Units Falter in Infringement Lawsuit Over Hip Implant Patent

Two Stryker units were on the losing end of a recent decision by a federal appeals court in a lawsuit that accused three of its rivals of patent infringement.

In a May 12 ruling, the U.S. Court Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision in favor of Zimmer, Wright Medical Technology and Smith & Nephew. It disagreed with a contention by Stryker Ireland and Howmedica Osteonics that the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey “erred in its claim construction and abused its discretion by forbidding Stryker from asserting infringement under the doctrine of equivalence,” according to the decision.

The case centered on the ’243 patent, which covers socket assembly in prosthetic hip implants, specifically, the shell and bearing members and the femoral component. Wright was slapped with the patent suit for sales of its Lineage and Dynasty acetabular cup systems, which Stryker said featured the same dual-locking mechanism claimed in the patent.

Smith & Nephew, meanwhile, was hit for sales of its R3 system, and Zimmer was smacked over marketing its Continuum system.

Stryker brought suit against the three companies and Johnson & Johnson’s Depuy Orthopedics unit in 2011. The case against Depuy — which was sued over sales of its Pinnacle and Duraloc systems — was dismissed with prejudice in June 2014.

Read the decision here: www.fdanews.com/05-16-16-opinion.pdf.