Medical technology company Medtronic (MDT.N) must defend itself again from challenges brought by rival Axonics (AXNX.O) to two of its patents related to nerve-stimulation technology, a U.S. appeals court said on Monday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that the U.S. Patent Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board analyzed the case incorrectly and sent it back for the board to reconsider its decisions that the patents were valid.
Medtronic has sued Axonics for infringing the two patents and five others in California federal court. That lawsuit is set to go to trial next month.
A spokesperson for Medtronic said on Monday that the company is “confident in our case and will continue to defend our intellectual property.” Representatives for Axonics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Medtronic’s patents relate to technology for stimulating sacral nerves in the lower back to treat bladder and bowel control issues. It sued Axonics in 2019, accusing the company’s r-SNM nerve-stimulation system of infringing the patents covering Medtronic’s competing InterStim system.
Medtronic has asked the court for money damages including royalties and lost profits.
Axonics told the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that two of Medtronic’s patents were invalid based on preexisting patents and other publications that had already disclosed the same technology. The board ruled for Medtronic in 2021.
A three-judge Federal Circuit panel said on Monday that the board mistakenly reasoned that Medtronic’s patents would not have been obvious from the earlier publications. The appeals court said the board’s errors were harmful enough to justify rehearing the cases.
Axonics separately sued Medtronic in California federal court last year, accusing the company of monopolizing the market for the systems and making false statements about its products.
The case is Axonics Inc v. Medtronic Inc, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Nos. 22-1451 and 22-1452.