Intellectual Property News and Reports

Dr. Mark Barry brought this action against Medtronic, Inc., alleging that Medtronic induced surgeons to infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 7,670,358 and 8,361,121, which Dr. Barry owns and which name him as the sole inventor. The jury found infringement of method claims 4 and 5 of the ’358 patent and system claims 2, 3, and 4 of the ’121 patent, rejected Medtronic’s several invalidity defenses, and awarded damages. In post-trial rulings on the jury issues, Barry v. Medtronic, Inc., 230 F. Supp. 3d 630 (E.D. Tex. 2017) (Barry), the district court upheld the verdict as relevant here—rejecting challenges as to induced infringement and associated damages for domestic conduct, id. at 640–47, 650–51, invalidity of the asserted ’358 patent claims under the public-use and on-sale bars, id. at 653–59, and invalidity of all asserted claims due to another’s prior invention, id. at 659–63. The district court then rejected Medtronic’s inequitable-conduct challenge, Barry v. Medtronic, Inc., 245 F. Supp. 3d 793, 823 (E.D. Tex. 2017) (Inequitable Conduct Op.), and, in a ruling not separately challenged on appeal, enhanced damages by twenty percent while denying attorney’s fees to Dr. Barry, Barry v. Medtronic, Inc., 250 F. Supp. 3d 107, 111, 119 (E.D. Tex. 2017) (Enhancement Op.). Medtronic appeals on numerous grounds, principally concerning the publicuse and on-sale statutory bars, but also concerning prior invention, inequitable conduct, and induced infringement and associated damages. We affirm.

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