Judge limits Mallinckrodts damages in patent infringement suit

A federal judge has cut the potential damages Covidien's Mallinckrodt subsidiary can receive in its patent infringement case over medical injectors against two U.S. divisions of Bracco—Lake Success, N.Y.-based E-Z-EM and Acist Medical Systems of Eden Prairie, Minn.

Judge T. John Ward of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Tuesday prohibited the plaintiffs from seeking damages for indirect infringement based on the sale of syringes for use with power injectors that occurred before the suit’s filing in 2007.

He ruled that the patent in question does not cover injectors that the companies made before that date. Hazelwood, Mo.-based Mallinckrodt sued the companies for infringing its patent over MRI power injectors.

Mallinckrodt, a division of the Dublin Ireland-based Covidien, wants a jury trial, unspecified damages and an injunction to prevent further infringement by the Bracco divisions' Empower devices.