Soft tissue reconstruction specialist Cayenne Medical, Inc., has announced the filing of a patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona against MedShape, Inc.
Background
Scottsdale-based Cayenne Medical, Inc., develops innovative soft tissue ligament and tendon repair and reconstruction products for the knee and shoulder. In the newly announced suit, it alleges that MedShape’s ExoShape® Femoral Soft Tissue Fastener infringed and continues to infringe Cayenne Medical patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 7,651,528 and 8,435,294) that broadly cover Cayenne Medical’s novel AperFix® System and methods for attaching soft material to bone, such as in an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction procedure.
It’s hard to imagine that after all the years of striving for innovative approaches to the fixation of a ligament in a bone tunnel, that there’s anything new under the sun that hasn’t been protected in some way. Time and legal fees will tell in this case, because Cayenne seems to think it has a case of infringement, no doubt based on the similar approach adopted by MedShape to that employed in its own AperFix system. Both companies offer fixation methods that involve two stage device delivery, the first to locate and orient the graft, the second to compress things against the tunnel wall. MedShape will believe its femoral device differs materially from the AperFix system, but both look to us like they work in the same fundamental way, compressing the graft circumferentially against the tunnel wall, while protecting it against the device that is doing the compressing. It’s going to be interesting to see how this one pans out.
Company comments
“Cayenne has invested significant resources since our inception in building a valuable intellectual property portfolio. We have a responsibility to patients, surgeons, and our team members and shareholders to safeguard our investments made in bringing innovative medical devices to the healthcare community. We will use all reasonable measures to ensure that violators, such as MedShape, stop the infringement of our patented inventions,” remarked David Springer, Cayenne Medical president and CEO.
Source: Cayenne Medical, Inc., Globe Newswire
published: March 21, 2014 in: Company News, Knee, Sports