Stryker Back in Court to Protect Wound Debridement Patents

Stryker Corp. is experiencing a case of déjà vu.

More than 10 years after successfully defending its wound care device patents, the orthopedic manufacturing behemoth is headed back to court to fend off another attempt to copy its products, this time by rival Zimmer Holdings Inc. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Kalamazoo, Mich., accuses Zimmer of violating three patents: an irrigation handpiece with a built in pulsing pump; a surgical/medical irrigator with a removable tip and integrated suction conduit; and a surgical/medical irrigating handpiece with a variable speed pump, integrated suction and battery pack.

The three patents are associated with Stryker’s Pulsavac Plus wound debridement system, according to court documents. Stryker is demanding a jury trial, a judgement of willful infringement, triple damages an injunction barring future patent infringements and legal fees.

The Dec. 10 lawsuit against Zimmer comes nearly 11 years after Stryker fended off an attempt by Davol Inc. (now a division of C.R. Bard Inc.) to steal the patents on the same wound care system. Stryker sued Davol in January 2000 in the same court, alleging the company violated two patents. The companies settled that lawsuit one year later, with Davol agreeing to license the right to use the patents, according to court documents.

The patents cover devices that use pulsing liquid, such as water or saline solution, to loosen debris from a surgical site and remove it by suction. The process clears the area for the doctors to see better during orthopedic surgery.

The Pulsavac Plus wound debridement system is part of Zimmer’s Orthopaedic Surgical Products unit, which reported $277.6 million in sales last year, or 6.8 percent of the Warsaw, Indiana-based company’s revenue in 2009, according to Bloomberg data.

Stryker sells the InterPulse and SurgiLav systems. The MedSurg Equipment unit, which includes sales of surgical supplies, accounted for $2.6 billion, or 39 percent of Kalamazoo-based Stryker’s revenue last year.

Garry Clark, a spokesman for Zimmer, declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by Bloomberg.