U.S. Surgical's Ray TFC
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Tyco subsidiary and its Surgical Dynamics unit settle two outstanding patent infringement disputes related to sales of the Ray threaded spinal fusion implant and methods and instruments by which the devices are implanted. The settlement, which includes one-time payment and royalty-bearing agreements, resolves disputes with competitors Medtronic Sofamor Danek and Sulzer Spine-Tech, as well as Karlin Technology. In a California federal court suit, the Ray was found to infringe U.S. technology patent 5,015,247 owned by Karlin Technology. A Tennessee federal court suit found the Ray insertion method also infringes U.S. method patent 5,741,253, which was issued to Gary Karlin Michelson, founder of Karlin Technology, and is now owned by Medtronic. Existing agreements relating to the patents cover Medtronic's InterFix and InterFix RP spinal fusion cages, and Sulzer Spine-Tech's BAK and BAK Proximity spinal fusion cages