February 28, 2013 — OrbusNeich announced that OrbusNeich Medical GmbH has commenced patent infringement actions in Germany and The Netherlands against Boston Scientific Corp. and its distribution affiliates in those countries. The complaint alleges Boston Scientific infringed two European patents covering certain novel stent designs.
The two patents, held by OrbusNeich, are designated EP 2 311 412 and EP 1 341 482. OrbusNeich alleges that these patents are infringed by several of Boston Scientific's coronary stent systems, including the Promus Element, Promus Element Plus, Omega PtCr and Taxus Element lines of stents.
OrbusNeich is seeking, among other things, a preliminary injunction prohibiting Boston Scientific from marketing and selling the infringing stents in Germany and The Netherlands. OrbusNeich also seeks damages for all sales of infringing products and a recall of commercially distributed, but not yet used stents in The Netherlands and to seize commercially distributed, but not yet used stents that are still in the possession of Boston Scientific in Germany.
"We will take all necessary actions to protect OrbusNeich from unlawful competitive practices," said Al Novak, chairman and CEO of OrbusNeich. "Through these proceedings, we are seeking to safeguard these technologies for the benefit of our physician customers and their patients as well as our investors and employees."
On Feb. 11, 2013, OrbusNeich received a favorable ruling from the European Patent Office (EPO) in connection with EP 1 341 482, one of the two patents asserted against Boston Scientific in these lawsuits. The EPO upheld the validity of claim 1 of the '482 patent, as amended, over an opposition filed by Boston Scientific and Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha. The EPO found that claim 1 of the '482 patent met all requirements of the European Patent Convention, and that the stents covered by the claim were novel and inventive over the prior art.
A patent infringement action was also filed by OrbusNeich in the United States in 2009. That suit has currently been stayed pending review of the patents under re-examination procedures in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The company notes that it is also reviewing its options with respect to this litigation.
For more information: www.OrbusNeich.com
April 17, 2024 
