OrbusNeich Medical Inc. and its subsidiary, OrbusNeich Medical GmbH (collectively, "OrbusNeich"), today announced that the Dusseldorf Regional Court has issued a second preliminary injunction against the importation, distribution, sales and marketing of certain stent systems by Boston Scientific in Germany.
This preliminary injunction was issued ex-parte against two companies – Boston Scientific (UK) Ltd. and Boston Scientific Ltd. – that Boston Scientific was using to intentionally circumvent a prior order of the Court banning sales of the same stent systems in Germany by other entities in the Boston Scientific corporate group.
On April 30, 2013, the Regional Court issued a preliminary injunction against U.S.-based Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) and its German subsidiary Boston Scientific Medizintechnik GmbH, prohibiting the importation, distribution, sales and marketing in Germany of the Small Vessel, Small Workhorse and Workhorse Stents of Boston Scientific's PROMUS Element™, PROMUS Element Plus™, OMEGA™, TAXUS Element™, SYNERGY™ and Promus PREMIER™ product lines. In its April 30 decision, which Boston Scientific has appealed, the Regional Court found that the geometric pattern of these stents infringe OrbusNeich's patent EP 1 341 482. As previously announced, OrbusNeich enforced the injunction on May 7, 2013. From that date forward, Boston Scientific Corporation and its German subsidiary were prohibited from taking any further actions that would infringe the '482 patent in Germany.
Rather than respecting the injunction, Boston Scientific immediately took steps to circumvent it. Boston Scientific transferred the German distribution of these products to Boston Scientific (UK) Ltd. and Boston Scientific Ltd. The company then sent a letter to its German customers advising them of the injunction and announcing that infringing products could be ordered from Boston Scientific UK. The letter provided contact information for orders and assured customers that a German-speaking salesperson would be at their disposal. These acts prompted the filing of the second preliminary injunction request, which was granted yesterday and which Boston Scientific may appeal. OrbusNeich has immediately initiated enforcement of this new preliminary injunction.
"If Boston Scientific keeps shifting distribution to other entities, we will continue to seek further injunctions and any other penalties available under German law," said Al Novak, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OrbusNeich. "Further to this second preliminary injunction, we have also filed a request that the Regional Court penalize Boston Scientific for the recent violations of the Court's order."
About OrbusNeich
OrbusNeich is a global company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets innovative medical devices for the treatment of vascular diseases. Current products are the world's first pro-healing stent, the Genous™ Stent, as well as other stents and balloons marketed under the names of Azule™, R stent™, Scoreflex™, Sapphire™, Sapphire II™ and Sapphire NC™. Development stage products include the COMBO Dual Therapy Stent™, the world's first dual therapy stent. OrbusNeich is headquartered in Hong Kong and has operations in Shenzhen, China; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Hoevelaken, The Netherlands; and Tokyo, Japan. OrbusNeich supplies medical devices to interventional cardiologists in more than 60 countries.
