Arthrex to Pay Smith & Nephew $4.7 Million in Patent Case

A U.S. district court has found Arthrex Inc. guilty of infringement on a patent owned by Smith & Nephew’s Endoscopy Division, and the jury has awarded $4.7 million.

Smith & Nephew Endoscopy sued Arthrex almost three years ago, claiming that Arthrex’s Retrobutton Femoral Fixation device infringed a U.S. patent owned by Smith & Nephew Endoscopy. The patent asserted in the claim covers Smith & Nephew’s Endobutton Fixation Device and similar devices for attaching tissue grafts to bone during arthroscopic surgery in the knee.

The company plans to seek an injunction that will stop Arthrex from selling the infringing Retrobutton Femoral Fixation device.