I don't know if you guys saw this, but if you did, you need to know what it means to you. Many of us who may have pituitary or brain tumor surgery in the near future - This may affect you! For many intercranial tumors, a stereotactic navigation is used in conjuction with a high resolution MRI. One of the players in the stereotactic navigation arena is BrainLAB. We have talked about Novalis radiation, and BrainLAB is the manufacturer. They also manufacture stereotactic navigation equipment and software: Rumor has it... Medtronic isn't happy with their 51 million and is NOW seeking a full injunction against BrainLAB - meaning, that if any hospital has BrainLAB equipment to treat their patients, that patient treatment with these products must cease, or the hospital will themseleves be finanically liable to Medtronic. This could directly affect patient care and YOUR ability to have surgery at your institution. Here is the scoop: http://www.aospine.org/files/news/AOSpine_45_90001.pdf BrainLAB Contact: Gabriella Cyranski BrainLAB Inc. Voice: (708) 486-0114 Mobile: (312) 771-7200 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jury Decision Reached In BrainLAB Patent Infringement Lawsuit - Final Judgment on the Case Still Pending Westchester, IL (September 30, 2005) Today in the US District Court in Denver, Colorado, a jury reached a verdict in the Medtronic Navigation patent-infringement case against BrainLAB Inc. The jury found that BrainLAB infringed four patents held or licensed by Medtronic, and determined that a reasonable royalty on BrainLAB product sales in the United States amounted to $51 million. Medtronic immediately requested an injunction, however the court declined to rule on this issue at this time. BrainLAB is seeking a modification of the jurys verdict. Final judgment on the case by the District Court is still pending. "While todays outcome is disappointing, we plan to appeal this decision and we are confident the facts and the law will support our position. We also believe that the royalty determined by the jury is unreasonable and completely inconsistent with the evidence presented at trial. We believe the evidence will ultimately show that there was no infringement of any kind, and that the accused surgical navigation tools are unique within the industry, and were developed by our own engineers," said Stefan Vilsmeier, BrainLAB founder and CEO. The Bucholz patent relates to a method of tracking a medical instrument relative to a patient using an active, microphone-based (acoustic) digitizing system. The Roberts patent covers a method of tracking an operating microscope relative to a patient using sound-based or magnetic-based digitizing technology. In contrast, the BrainLAB systems use a patented passive optical tracking technology, which is completely different from the Bucholz and Roberts inventions. The Heilbrun patents relate to certain methods of using static or immovable "machine vision" technology where the digitizing cameras cannot move without re-establishing the relationship of the cameras during surgery. The BrainLAB systems utilize an advanced dynamic technology, which allows the surgeon to reposition the patient and cameras at any time, resulting in a system which is more flexible and practical for surgical use. As a company dedicated to innovation, BrainLAB invests heavily in research and development, and is committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of others. BrainLAB stands by its products and will continue to develop innovative technologies that benefit patients. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this case, BrainLAB will work hard to ensure that there is very little if any impact on our customers." About BrainLAB BrainLAB (www.brainlab.com), a privately held company headquartered in Munich, Germany, was founded in 1989 and is specialized in the development, manufacture, and marketing of medical technology for radiosurgery / radiotherapy, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and ENT. Among the products developed by BrainLAB are software and hardware components for image-guided surgery and radiotherapy as well as integrated systems for stereotactic radiosurgery. With almost 1,990 systems installed in over 65 countries, BrainLAB is among the market leaders in image-guided medical technology. BrainLAB today employs more than 670 people worldwide and has 15 offices across Europe, Asia, North and South America.
http://wwwp.medtronic.com/Newsroom/NewsReleaseDetails.do?itemId=1128121580199&lang=en_US From: RS Press Releases
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2005 6:07 PM
To: RS Press Release:
Subject: Jury Awards Medtronic $51 Million in Patent Case JURY AWARDS MEDTRONIC $51 MILLION IN PATENT CASE BrainLAB AG Found to Infringe Surgical Navigation Patents MINNEAPOLIS - Sept. 30, 2005 - Medtronic announced that a jury in the U.S. District Court in Denver awarded $51 million to Medtronic Navigation in a longstanding dispute with BrainLAB AG, a German company, involving four patents related to image-guided surgical techniques and devices. Medtronic Navigation claimed that BrainLAB AG's VectorVision, Kolibri, Exactrac, and BrainSuite infringed claims of four patents held by Medtronic. Details of the verdict are as follows: * All the accused BrainLAB products infringe the Bucholz and Roberts patents,
* All the accused BrainLAB products infringe the Heilbrun '101 "machine vision" patent,
* All the accused BrainLAB products, except Exactrac, infringe the
Heilbrun '318 "pattern recognition" patent, and
* The jury awarded total damages of $51 million. The Bucholz patent is known as the "freehand" patent because it frees surgeons from the need to use a cumbersome, mechanical device connected to the patient's head in order to use surgical instruments with precision. The Bucholz invention provides a surgical navigation system that could track surgical instruments in the hand of the surgeon and display the exact location of the instrument in relation to the patient's body and prior body scans.
The Roberts patent integrated pre-operative scans and contours or outlines of tumors or other structures into the view of a surgeon's microscope so they could not only see the part of the patient being operated on but also exact outlines, such as a tumor, so the surgeon could remove the unhealthy tissue without harming adjacent healthy tissue. The Heilbrun patents, including one known as "machine vision," brought the benefit of scanning technology, CTs, and MRIs, into the operating room allowing a surgeon to operate as though with X-ray vision. "We will always place a premium on our intellectual property and are extremely happy with the jury's decision in this case," said Pete Wehrly, Medtronic vice president and president of Medtronic's Spinal and Navigation businesses. This case was filed in May 1998. About Medtronic Navigation Medtronic Navigation is the leading supplier of integrated
image-guided surgery products in the world. Based in Boulder County, Colorado, Medtronic Navigation is focused on research to enhance current imaging systems and develop new image-guided surgery applications. Medtronic Navigation uses extensive research and development and strategic partnerships giving surgeons and their patients the safest and most effective imaging devices available in the world. About Medtronic Medtronic, Inc. (www.medtronic.com), headquartered in Minneapolis, is the global leader in medical technology - alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around the world.
| Medtronic Navigation, Inc. et al. v. BrainLAB Inc. et al. | | Economic Advice in Litigation http://www.nera.com/PracticeArea.asp?PA_ID=31&more=ClientExp&c_ID=471 | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | | The Situation In the early 1990s, Surgical Navigation Technologies, Inc. (now Medtronic Navigation) developed and began selling image-guided surgery systems that could track surgical instruments in the hand of the surgeon and display the exact location of the instrument in relation to the patient's body and prior body scans. The invention freed surgeons from the need to attach a cumbersome metal frame to a patient's head in order to use surgical instruments with precision, and the company's patented "StealthStation" systems quickly became a commercial success. In 1996, BrainLAB started selling its "VectorVision" image-guided surgery system in the US. Medtronic Navigation contended that the BrainLAB systems infringed several patents and filed suit in US District Court in Colorado in 1998. The case was tried before a Denver jury in September 2005. | ![]() | | NERA's Role NERA was asked to calculate the damages caused by the alleged infringement. NERA Senior Vice President and Intellectual Property Practice Chair Dr. Marion Stewart testified that a reasonable royalty to compensate for the infringement would be $50,794,770. | ![]() | | The Result On 30 September 2005, the jury concluded that BrainLAB had infringed four patents and awarded $51 million in damages. |
Jury says German company filched SLU patents http://teacherssupportnetwork.com/news/DisplayResourceArticle.do?STORYID_PARAM=43434fc0_34c4_1350820051005-1409697934 Publish Date: 20051005
Publication: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Oct. 5--A jury has found a German company responsible for $51 million in lost royalties for infringing on several medical device patents, including one owned by St. Louis University. All of the patents involve some aspect of tracking technology and 3-D imagery that allow surgeons to tell the exact position of instruments inside the human body. After the verdict, issued Friday in U.S. District Court in Denver, the German company, BrainLAB, announced plans to appeal the case. Medtronic Navigation Inc. of Minneapolis licenses the SLU patent and controls three other patents at issue in the civil suit. It prevailed against BrainLAB in the two-week trial. The SLU patent covers a navigation system that Dr. Richard Bucholz invented in his St. Louis basement and patented in 1992. Bucholz, a SLU professor and director of the division of neurological surgery, assigned the patent to the university. Bucholz imbedded a kind of global positioning technology in the tips of neurosurgical instruments and married the tools with 3-D imaging. The invention allows surgeons to navigate tumors and brain lesions while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Before the advent of Bucholz's technology, stereotactic, or 3-D, surgery had required a patient's head to be locked into position using a frame screwed into the skull. Bucholz said Tuesday that only about 2 percent of neurosurgeons used the early systems. His design eliminated the frame and helped make tracking systems standard equipment in neurosurgery. In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration approved a device incorporating the Bucholz patent. The tracking system was made by Surgical Navigation Technology, a St. Louis company he co-founded. After name changes and acquisitions, the technology license came to Medtronic. Bucholz said that shortly after the device won FDA approval, BrainLAB claimed it had created an equivalent system. Surgical Navigation sued BrainLAB, and the case was pursued by all subsequent licensees of the patent. A jury found that BrainLAB, which makes software and systems used in image-guided and stereotactic radiosurgery, violated four patents in total. The jury said Medtronic did not suffer any lost profits because of the infringement. But jurors said that because BrainLAB incorporated the Bucholz patent and one other patent in six of its products, a "reasonable royalty" would be $50 million. Bucholz said Tuesday that it is not clear how much of that SLU might stand to gain. "It would seem to me the $50 million should come back to the inventors," he said. The jury said infringement of the two other patents was worth $1 million in royalties to Medtronic. BrainLAB said in a press release posted on its Web site that it wants the verdict modified. Founder and Chief Executive Stefan Vilsmeier said the royalty determined by the jury is unreasonable and "completely inconsistent with the evidence presented at trial." Vilsmeier said BrainLAB engineers developed the navigation tools used in his company's image-guided surgery products. The release said that, as a company dedicated to innovation, BrainLAB respects the intellectual property rights of others. | 