A federal judge in Delaware has sided with a prominent spine surgeon-inventor in a patent infringement lawsuit filed against SeaSpine, an implant manufacturer, Bloomberg Law reported Jan. 26.
Six notes:
1. Mark Barry, MD, a Las Vegas-based pediatric orthopedic and scoliosis surgeon, alleged in a June 2 lawsuit that SeaSpine sells spinal alignment devices that infringe his patents.
2. The case involves SeaSpine's Daytona deformity and small stature spinal systems.
3. SeaSpine argued that Dr. Barry's invention is not entitled to patent protection because it involved what the company considers an abstract idea — "rotating two or more vertebrae at the same time," which is also known as "en bloc derotation." The judge rejected SeaSpine's argument.
4. Dr. Barry is seeking cash compensation to be determined at a jury trial.
5. The surgeon also filed a patent infringement case in June against Alphatec in relation to one of its spinal fixation systems.
6. Dr. Barry has a history of wins in patent litigation cases. In 2017, a federal judge ordered Medtronic to pay Dr. Barry $23.5 million for infringing on two of his spine device patents.