On February 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision to allow Össur Hf, Reykjavik, Iceland, and Össur Americas, Foothill Ranch, California, to continue producing prostheses in the face of a competitor’s patent infringement allegations. Presiding over the ruling were Judges Alan Lourie, Timothy Dyk, and Evan Wallach.
Otto Bock HealthCare LP, Minneapolis, Minnesota, filed suit against Össur Hf and its North American subsidiary Össur Americas on June 12, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The suit alleged patent infringement and breach of settlement regarding patented technology incorporated into Ottobock’s Harmony and Triton Harmony vacuum systems. According to the complaint, Ottobock sought to recover damages and obtain an injunctive and other relief from Össur’s infringement of Ottobock’s U.S. Patent No. 6,726,726 BS (‘726 Patent).
The district court denied Otto Bock’s motion on August 22, 2013, holding that Ottobock was unlikely to prove that the accused combination of products satisfied the ‘726 patent’s “means for sealing” and “means for maintaining a vacuum” limitations. Ottobock subsequently filed a notice of appeal of the district court’s order denying its motion for a preliminary injunction. The district court declined to stay the action, and Ottobock filed an appeal with the Federal Circuit, arguing that the district court had abused its discretion when it declined to issue an injunction that would keep Össur and Össur Americas from using its Unity™ vacuum suspension system. With this latest suit, the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling.
