A federal judge shoots down an antitrust lawsuit filed against Medtronic by Lenox MacLaren Surgical, saying Lenox was its own worst enemy.
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) prevailed in an antitrust lawsuit filed over a bone mill made by Lenox MacLaren Surgical, with a federal judge ruling that Lenox misrepresented the size of the bone mill market and failed to adequately market its own device.
Lenox MacLaren Surgical first inked a distribution deal with Medtronic in 2000 for the bone mill, hoping the pact would provide the scale to put the devices in every orthopedic surgical suite in the world, according to court documents.
The deal allegedly came to naught after Medtronic only bought the 500 mills the contract called for, using a loaner program to create a thriving demand even as it worked to develop its own mill to usurp the Lenox MacLaren device, according to a lawsuit Lenox MacLaren filed last fall.