Case Filed: Aug 24, 2009
Case Closed: Aug 09, 2013
Court: Texas Eastern District Court
Judge: Rodney Gilstrap
Case Summary:
Abbott laboratories, the Illinois
based producer of pharmaceuticals and health care products was sued by a
Physician Bruce N. Saffran, accusing Abbott of infringing his patent. The Saffran
patent US5653760, entitled ‘Method and apparatus for managing
macromolecular distribution’ was issued on Aug 05, 1997 and expires[i]
by Aug 30, 2013. The patent generally covers a
device with a medicated fabric that is designed to repair small bone fractures
and describes a way to release a drug into the body.
According to the complaint,
Saffran alleged that Abbott's "Xience" medicated stent, a small
device used to prop open heart arteries and keep them from narrowing due to
scar tissue, infringes the ‘760 patent. Complaint sought judgment of
infringement, money damages, permanent enjoinment from using their patents and
attorneys’ fees and other relief, the Court may deem just and proper.
Initially the case was stayed as per the parties’
request. Later, parties filed joint motion for dismissal and Court considering
the joint motion ordered:
- Saffran’s claims to be dismissed with prejudice
- Abbott’s counterclaims to be dismissed without prejudice and
- Parties to bear their own costs and expenses.
Saffran filed an infringement
suit against Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson over the same patent
in December 2005 and October 2007 where he was awarded damages.
See 2:09-cv-00256 for more details. To get alerts on
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Are you looking for a tool to calculate patent
terms? Try Patent Term Estimator, our free tool or download our free Android app on Google Play
Store.
[i]
Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based
tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S.
utility patents.
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