SPINE SURGEON WINS $112 MILLION IN ROYALTY BATTLE WITH MEDTRONIC (Orthopedics This Week)
An Indiana spine surgeon and inventor has prevailed in a five-year legal battle against medical device company Medtronic, with a jury awarding him $112 million in damages.
Rick Sasso, M.D., is a founding member and president of Indiana Spine Group and a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and a professor and chief of spine surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Sasso claimed that Medtronic violated contracts by not paying royalties on a pair of Sasso’s patented inventions: a spinal-implant system and a screw-implant system. Sasso sold the patents to Medtronic, but alleged that the company stopping paying him royalties, breaching its obligations and acting in bad faith.
According to Sasso’s complaint, his agreement with Medtronic provided for him to receive 2% of net sales on his inventions for a period of eight years. However, if a device was covered by a valid claim of a U.S. patent, then the royalty payments would continue for the life of the patent.
Sasso was the inventor of Medtronic’s Vertex system, which Sasso alleges is still covered by valid ...
