In Brief: Biomet
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Biomet: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reverses in part a 1993 decision against Biomet in hip cup patent litigation, the company announces Sept. 12. The reversal reduces a trial court's judgment against Biomet from $6 mil. to $2 mil., the company says, noting that the appeals court held that although Biomet's bipolar hip cup did infringe a patent held by surgeon/inventor Pedro Ramos, "that infringement was not literal nor willful on the part of Biomet." Biomet no longer manufactures the hip cup. In addition to an adjustment for the patent suit judgment, Biomed will report two "additional non-recurring events" -- a $1 mil. charge related to its acquisition of Kirschner and a $2.5 mil. gain on sale of its stock in American Medical Electronics -- in its first quarter (ended Aug. 31) results. Biomet's sale of AME stock resulted from AME's merger with Orthofix, became final Aug. 21...