Radiologist Dr. Bruce Saffran of New Jersey just won $482 million in a patent infringement lawsuit against healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson. In 2008 Saffran won $501 million in a suit against Boston Scientific Corp. over the same device, and he has an upcoming case over the same device against Abbott Laboratories.
Saffran held a patent on a device used in heart stents, and he contends Johnson & Johnson’s Cypher stents infringed that patent. Saffran has been embroiled in patent infringement activity since 2003. The J&J Cypher stent dominated the stent market at one point, but sales have dropped in the last year. J&J, Abbot Laboratories, and Boston Scientific are the market leaders in the stent industry.
J&J plans to appeal the verdict. For more on this story, see this article.