NuVasive, Inc., a medical device company focused on developing minimally disruptive surgical products and procedures for the spine, announced today that it reached a settlement agreement with Cadwell Laboratories, Inc., in a lawsuit involving NuVasive’s patented neuromonitoring technology.
NuVasive filed the lawsuit in December 2012 asserting that Cadwell infringed on the Company’s patented neuromonitoring technology, including the integration of nerve monitoring technology during lateral approach spine surgery. As part of the settlement reached between the parties, Cadwell has agreed to exit the lateral spine surgery market, and to no longer provide products, services, or support for lateral approach spine fusion surgeries. In addition, certain of Cadwell’s future products (that rely on NuVasive patented technology) may be required to openly attribute intellectual property ownership to NuVasive and may require a 5% fee paid to NuVasive.
Alex Lukianov, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “At NuVasive, we take immense pride in the investments we have made to be a dominant innovator in the spine market, and we intend to aggressively protect those investments. Our neuromonitoring technology is best in class and is central to the facilitation of surgical reproducibility and safety in less invasive spine procedures. I am exceptionally pleased that the solid intellectual property that surrounds our neuromonitoring technology has once again been validated.”
The company’s neuromonitoring technology was previously validated in litigation between NuVasive and Medtronic. In 2011 a jury verdict awarded monetary damages and back royalty payments to NuVasive in favor of the company’s claim that Medtronic’s NIM-Eclipse System infringed upon NuVasive’s neuromonitoring technology patent.
