A Medical Device Daily

Medtronic (Minneapolis) reported this week that the U.S. District Court in Delaware has reversed its previous ruling, issued Jan. 5, that Medtronic's S7 and Driver coronary stent products infringed one claim of the Lau patent held by Guidant (Indianapolis).

The ruling comes just days before the scheduled start of a jury trial on Medtronic's claim that the Lau patents are invalid. The jury trial is expected to begin Monday, with the jury charged with determining issues of infringement as well as invalidity of the asserted Lau patents.

Other decisions issued by the court on Jan. 5 were unaffected by this week's ruling.

In other legalities, Align Technology (Santa Clara, California), the inventor of the Invisalign method of straightening teeth without wires and brackets, has filed a multi-claim lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court against defendants OrthoClear, OrthoClear Holdings, Muhammad Ziaullah Chishti, Bao Tran, Peter Riepenhausen, Joe Breeland, Jeff Tunnell, Christopher Kawaja and Charles Wen.

Among other things, the lawsuit charges tortious and illegal actions arising out of the defendants' alleged plan to utilize Align's intellectual property, confidential information and employees.

The lawsuit also alleges that OrthoClear, Chishti and the other persons named are in breach of contractual obligations, statutory law and common law by attempting to disrupt Align's operations and gain improper access to Align's customer relations and trade secrets.

“We will take all necessary actions to protect Align's vital corporate assets and technology leadership on behalf of our shareholders,“ said Thomas Prescott, Align's president and CEO. “Our leading market position is the product of substantial investment and many years of extensive research and development.“

Align seeks injunctive relief and monetary damages in an amount to be determined.

The Invisalign system corrects malocclusion using a series of clear, removable appliances that move teeth to a desired final position and does not rely on metal or ceramic brackets and wires. It received FDA clearance in 1998.