A Medical Device Daily

C. R. Bard (Murray Hill, New Jersey) reported that a U.S. District Court in Arizona entered judgment in its favor in its patent infringement suit against W. L. Gore & Associates (Elkton, Maryland).

Bard said that the court ruled that Gore failed to prove that Bard's patent, No. 6,436,135, was unenforceable due to inequitable conduct.

Last December, a jury found that Gore willfully infringed Bard's patent through the sale of Gore's ePTFE vascular grafts and stent-grafts, and awarded Bard $185 million in past damages (Medical Device Daily, Dec. 13, 2007).

Gore, the maker of Gore-Tex fabrics, sought to overturn that ruling by having the patent declared invalid, but according to Bard, the U.S. District Court in Arizona said Gore failed to prove its case.

Gore may file post-trial motions with the court and may appeal the judgment to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

C.R. Bard makes vascular, urology, oncology and surgical products.