Zimmer Ordered to Pay Millions Over Patent Infringement

Warsaw, Ind.-based orthopedic technology company Zimmer Holdings Inc. has been ordered to pay Stryker Corp. approximately $228 million by a U.S. district Judge. Zimmer was found to be infringing upon Stryker’s patents held on a hand-held, battery-powered, disposable devices used to clean wounds and remove dead tissue during surgery. The Kalamazoo, Mich.-based orthopedic device company sued Zimmer in 2010 for its Pulsavac Plus wound-cleaning device.

Judge Robert Jonker of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan threw out Zimmer’s challenge of a jury verdict in Stryker’s favor. The jury had awarded Stryker $70 million, and Jonker tripled that amount to $210 million, noting that Zimmer’s recent annual profit has been more than 10 times the size of the verdict and that a $70 million award “may not be enough, without enhancement,” to deter infringements.

The judge also said Stryker is entitled to $7.2 million in additional damages, $11.7 million in interest and ordered Zimmer to pay Stryker’s attorney’s fees.

Jonker said there was substantial evidence to support the jury’s verdict, including testimony that Zimmer “all but instructed” its design team to copy Stryker’s products.

“Zimmer chose a high-risk/high-reward strategy of competing immediately and aggressively in the pulsed lavage market and opted to worry about the potential legal consequences later,” the judge wrote in a 58-page decision. “Ultimately, however, the trial proofs demonstrated that this was not a close case.”

Monica Kendrick, a Zimmer spokeswoman, said the company made changes to its Pulsavac Plus line after the jury verdict, and believes the products it now sells are “outside the scope” of the injunction.

“Zimmer plans to file an appeal challenging both the earlier jury verdict and the recent rulings by the judge,” she added.