Becton Dickinson and Nova Score Impressive Appellate Victory in Patent Case

Ropes & Gray won an impressive appellate victory for clients Becton Dickinson & Co. and Nova Biomedical Corp. on Monday, January 25 when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. affirmed that the two biomedical companies had not infringed any of four different patents on diabetes monitoring technology asserted by Abbott Laboratories. The Court of Appeals also affirmed that three of those patents had claims that were either invalid and/or unenforceable. Abbott had sought more than $80 million in damages based on Becton Dickinson and Nova's manufacture and sale of glucose monitors and test strips for diabetics.

The appellate court decision in Therasense, Inc. and Abbott Laboratories v. Becton Dickinson & Company and Nova Biomedical Corporation puts an end to the nearly six-year litigation dispute where Ropes & Gray systematically dismantled Abbott’s patent claims in a series of summary judgment motions, followed by back-to-back bench and jury trials.