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Patent Troll Lawsuits Rare In Device Industry, But May Increase, Attorneys Say

Patent attorneys suggest lawsuits from firms that buy up device patents purely to pursue litigation, which appears to have occurred recently with Medtronic’s kyphoplasty patents, may become a more common occurrence.

Medtronic PLC’srecent sale of its kyphoplasty patents to a company that appears focused only on filing lawsuits on intellectual property rather than developing products (pejoratively called a “patent troll”) is a rare occurrence in the device world, but it could become more commonplace, attorneys say.

A company called Orthophoenix LLC filed suit June 5 against six medical device companies alleging infringement of the Kyphon patents. The court documents in the cases state that Medtronic sold...

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