Medtronic in the Crosshairs: 3 Suits Claim IP and Employee Poaching
Medical device giant Medtronic was hit with three lawsuits in the District of Delaware on Nov. 12—two by the previous employer of former Medtronic employees, and one by a doctor who claims the company stole her product design.
November 13, 2024 at 04:19 PM
2 minute read
Patent LitigationMedical device giant Medtronic was hit with three lawsuits in the District of Delaware on Nov. 12—two by the previous employer of former Medtronic employees, and one by a doctor who claims the company stole her product design.
Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell and Groombridge, Wu, Baughman & Stone filed a patent-infringement case on behalf of Hexagon Health Inc. and Shirin Towfigh, a surgeon who founded Hexagon and holds the patents in question.
That complaint alleges after Towfigh met with Medtronic representatives to discuss possible collaboration, Medtronic began designing a product based on Towfigh's ideas for an anatomical mesh used in hernia repair.
Towfigh claims the mesh product Medtronic launched in 2020 was her invention, and Medtronic wasn't authorized to use it.
"Medtronic’s unlawful behavior has not only denied Dr. Towfigh and Hexagon Health of the full value of her inventions but also set back the field of hernia health, a critical but understudied medical specialty in need of treatment options that innovative specialist-physicians like Dr. Towfigh are uniquely positioned to address," the complaint alleged.
"Medtronic just learned of the case and is reviewing the complaint," said Boua Xiong, a spokesperson for Medtronic. "Medtronic believes in its innovation and has a long history of respecting the intellectual property rights of other innovators."
Meanwhile, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani is representing Axonics Inc., a company which focuses on treatments for bladder and bowel dysfunction, in the other two cases filed the same day as the patent suit but unrelated aside from all naming Medtronic as a defendant.
The two cases, each brought against Medtronic and one former Axonics employee who accepted a job at Medtronic, claim former employees Emily Turkot and Carmen Fermin violated their employment agreements by working on a Medtronic product line that competes with Axonics products.
The complaints claim those employees, both of whom were clinical specialists at Axonics, breached the non-solicitation provision in their contracts, and they state Medtronic has made an effort to recruit Axonics employees generally.
"Medtronic is committed to fair employment practices that comply with the law and enable the company to attract and retain a best-in-class, highly talented and innovative workforce," Xiong said. "Medtronic will defend itself vigorously against these claims."
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