(CN) - Johnson & Johnson convinced the Federal Circuit that it didn't violate Boston Scientific's patent for a coated stent, because that patent should never have been issued.
Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson company, appealed a decision by U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson, who ruled that the companies had infringed on Boston Scientific's patent on an expandable stent coated in a material that prevents blood clotting.
Judge Lourie of the Washington, D.C.-based appeals court reversed, backing Cordis' claim that a previous patent by a different company, Wolff, has two drawings that could easily be combined to form Boston Scientific's patented stent.
"We agree with Cordis that Wolff alone renders (the) patent obvious and therefore invalid," Lourie wrote. "Combining two embodiments disclosed adjacent to each other in a prior art patent does not require a leap in inventiveness."
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