Cooley Secures Patent Infringement Jury Trial Win for Rex Medical

Washington D.C. – October 26, 2022 – Cooley secured a significant victory for client Rex Medical in a patent infringement matter against robotic surgery system producer, Intuitive Surgical. The jury handed down a unanimous verdict, concluding that Rex Medical’s patent directed to surgical staplers was infringed by Intuitive and that Intuitive failed to prove that the claim was invalid, awarding Rex Medical $10 million in damages. Lawyers Erik Milch, Dena Chen, Deepa Kannappan and Alli Elkman led the Cooley team representing Rex Medical.

“Rex Medical is thrilled with the jury’s verdict,” said Lindsay L. Carter, president at Rex Medical. “After nearly four years of litigating and facing multiple challenges to our patent, we are grateful to the jury for its diligence on this case and to the entire Cooley team for its expertise and determination in guiding Rex Medical to a fantastic result.”

In 2019, Rex Medical, a Pennsylvania-based, minimally invasive medical device pioneer, filed a suit alleging that California-based Intuitive Surgical infringed US Patent No. 9,439,650, which covers an innovative configuration for a minimally invasive surgical stapling device. The complaint alleged infringement based on Intuitive’s SureForm stapler products that it began selling in 2018 and that are used with Intuitive’s robotic da Vinci surgical system for minimally invasive surgery.

After the complaint was filed, Intuitive challenged claims of Rex Medical’s patent at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). In 2021, PTAB, and later the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, affirmed the validity of several claims, including the asserted claim.

The successful outcome earned the Cooley team a runners up slot as part of The American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs list.

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