Smith & Nephew v. Arthrex
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
U.S. District Court in Oregon grants injunction prohibiting Arthrex from manufacturing suture anchors that infringe a patent held by Smith & Nephew. The technology covered in the patent is incorporated into Smith & Nephew's Bioraptor, Tag Wedge and Tag Rod suture anchors. A jury determined in June that Arthrex's Bio-SutureTak, PEEK SutureTak, Bio-PushLock and PEEK PushLock suture anchors for minimally invasive soft-tissue repair surgeries violate patents exclusively licensed to Smith & Nephew by inventor John Hayhurst and awarded Smith & Nephew $14.7 million in damages for past infringement. Once the final judgment is entered, Arthrex must stop manufacturing and selling Bio-SutureTak and PEEK SutureTak. The judgment does not cover Arthrex's newer versions of PushLock or its Bio-Composite SutureTak anchors, but Smith & Nephew and Dr. Hayhurst have filed a second suit for the newer products