U.S. Supreme Court Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Supreme Court rejects Medtronic bid to overturn spine surgeon’s royalties win

The front of U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Adobe stock photo)

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) lost its bid Monday to have the U.S. Supreme Court toss a decision awarding $112 million in royalties to an Indiana spine surgeon-turned-inventor.

The court declined to hear a petition by Medtronic to overturn an appeals court decision that allowed the jury’s award to Dr. Rick Sasso to stand. Sasso won the royalties decision in Indiana state court in 2018, five years after first claiming in a lawsuit that the company shorted him on their royalties deal for the Vertex cervical spine system he helped develop.

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U.S. Supreme Court kicks Arthrex case back to patent board

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges are unconstitutionally appointed, but that greater supervision by the PTAB director would solve the problem.

The opinion in the case followed a 2019 appeals court ruling in the closely watched patent spat between Arthrex and Smith+Nephew (NYSE:SNN). In the original lawsuit, Smith+Nephew and ArthroCare (which Smith+Nephew acquired in 2014) petitioned for inter partes review of a patent secured by Arthrex. Three patent judges concluded that the patent was invalid.

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Supreme Court upholds Affordable Care Act again

The front of U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Adobe stock photo)

The U.S. Supreme Court has turned back a third Republican challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this time by a 7-2 vote.

The latest challenge to the law popularly known as Obamacare came from Texas and other states, backed by the administration of former President Donald Trump. The justices ruled that the challengers lacked legal standing for their case. They did not address part of the law known as the “individual mandate,” which requires Americans to have health insurance and which the complainants sought to overturn as unconstitutional.

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