Medtronic Loses Lawsuit Over Artificial Disc

According to federal jury, Medtronic infringed on an artificial disc patent held by Swiss-based Spine Solutions Inc. Synthes, the company that purchased Spine Solutions, is entitled to $5.8 million in lost profits and infringing sales reached $9.1 million, the jury concluded, and these two figures will be used to decide the final charges against Medtronic. The patent violation case involved Synthes' ProDisc II (aka ProDisc-L), for the lower region of the back, and Medtronic's Maverick, A-Mav, and O-Mav.