Medinol announced that the Court of Appeals in The Hague, Netherlands rendered a decision in its favor that finds the design of the BX-Velocity stent of up to 4 mm diameter infringes Medinol intellectual property. The court ordered Cordis Europe N.V. and Cordis B.V. to cease all infringement activity, including sales and distribution, of their BX-Velocity stent 48 hours after service of the decision and after Medinol posts bond. The court set penalties to be paid to Medinol in the sum of approximately $45,900 per breach or $4,600 for every infringing stent with which Cordis will breach this order.

This far-reaching decision covers all BX-Velocity design stents, (also used as the platform for the drug coated Cypher stent) from either Cordis B.V. and/or Cordis Europe N.V. The BX-Velocity stents are imported by Cordis B.V. Cordis Europe N.V. or Cordis B.V. process these stents and package them. Both are responsible, according to Cordis' statements in court, for the daily affairs with part of the production, logistics and administration for the service of the group companies in Europe. The decision thus affects all European sales of all infringing Johnson & Johnson-Cordis stents.

Originally, Johnson & Johnson unsuccessfully petitioned the European Patent Office (EPO) to invalidate Medinol's patent. Johnson & Johnson subsequently appealed the decision to the Technical Board of Appeal of the EPO. The injunction is in effect until the final judgment in the case on merit and/or until the decision of the Technical Board of Appeal of the EPO. In its judgment this last week, the Dutch court concluded that "there does not seem to be a high probability that [the patent] will be declared invalid" and "the fact that Cordis appealed the decision of the [European Patent Office] does not alter this."

Medinol's strong intellectual property portfolio, uniquely allows simultaneous optimization of the flexibility and scaffolding properties of a stent. At the same time, this technology provides the ideal geometry for optimal drug delivery from a stent. This innovative heart of Medinol's business has now been re-affirmed for the second time within a week by European courts, coming on the heels of a similar win over Boston Scientific in the Dusseldorf Patent Court last week.