A Medical Device Daily

NMT Medical (Boston) reported that the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota has issued a ruling that Cardia (Burnsville, Minnesota) has infringed U.S. Patent No. 5.451.235 (235 Patent) and confirms that the patent is valid.

The patent infringement lawsuit was originally filed in September 2004 alleging that Cardia’s Intrasept device infringes upon the 235 Patent, which is owned by the Children’s Medical Center (Boston) and licensed exclusively by NMT.

“We are very pleased with the Court’s decision. We were confident that our intellectual property had been violated in the Cardia case,” said NMT’s President/CEO John Ahern. “We believe we have more patents than any other company in the patent foramen ovale closure space. Currently, we have 66 issued U.S. patents – with 76 more pending – as well as numerous foreign equivalents.”

NMT makes implant technologies that allow interventional cardiologists to treat structural heart disease through minimally invasive, catheter-based procedures.