HARTFORD – Medical device maker Covidien, which has operations in New Haven and North Haven, won a patent infringement case in U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton’s court in New Haven Thursday.
Covidien sued Ethicon Endo-Surgery in 2004, after it introduced a line of ultrasonic surgical tools called Harmonic that Covidien said copied its designs. Ultrasonic cutting and coagulation instruments help cauterize incisions at a lower temperature than other tools which use lasers or heat.
The judge ruled that Ethicon, a division of Johnson & Johnson, should pay Covidien, which is based in Ireland, $176.5 million. That’s 8 percent of the $1.7 billion in sales the Ethicon tools had from 2004 to March 2012, plus interest.
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Ethicon spokeswoman Bridgett Golden told Reuters the company was evaluating the court’s decision and its options for appeal.
“We’re just pleased to see the court has recognized… the value of our intellectual property,” Covidien Spokesman John Jordan said Friday.
He declined to disclose the size of Covidien’s sales of ultrasonic cutting tools, or speculate on how much more market share Covidien could capture as a result of the court victory.
