Abbott faces suit from FlexStent over stent patent

FlexStent alleged in a lawsuit this week that Abbott infringes a vascular stent patent with its Xience line of drug-eluting devices.

The suit, filed Nov. 26 in the U.S. District Court for Central California, accused Abbott’s Xience stents of infringing on U.S. Patent 6,187,035. The Xience devices infringe Claim 1 of the ‘035 patent, which specifies a stent with specific width and thickness ranges for its vertical and horizontal branches.

The FlexStent patent calls for vertical branches with thicknesses between 0.09mm and 0.12mm, horizontal branch thickness of 0.05mm to 0.09mm and branch thickness ranging from 0.08mm to 0.12mm. The Xience device cited in the lawsuit has vertical branches of 0.09906mm to 0.1016mm, horizontal branch width of 0.0762mm and thickness 0.08128mm – all within the range specified in the FlexStent patent, according to the lawsuit.

Abbott knew of the infringement because the patent’s prior owner told it in May 2015, the suit alleged.

“The prior owner also provided additional materials to defendants’ representatives demonstrating infringement of the patent, and corresponded and met with defendants’ representatives regarding defendants’ infringement of the patents. As a result, defendants knew and understood that offering to sell, selling, and using their accused products, including according to their encouragement and instructions, would infringe the ’035 patent,” the lawsuit alleged.

The suit seeks compensatory damages, costs, expenses, and pre- and post-judgment interest, enhanced damages for willful infringement and attorney’s fees and costs.

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