Medtronic Loses Retrial of Patent Dispute With Cordis

A Delaware jury has ruled that Medtronic violated stent patents held by Johnson & Johnson's Cordis unit.

The ruling concerns Medtronic's Microstent II, GFX and GFX II coronary stents, which were sold from 1997 though 2000. Medtronic said the verdict doesn't inhibit it from selling its current portfolio of coronary stents, and won't affect the development of its drug-eluting stent.

Medtronic inherited the case after it acquired Arterial Vascular Engineering in 1999. Cordis sued for patent infringement in 1997, and a separate Delaware jury awarded the Johnson & Johnson unit $270 million in damages. Medtronic appealed the verdict and won, but later an appeals court said the original verdict shouldn't have been overturned.