J&J’s DePuy Beats Bid for Pre-Trial Ruling on Spinal-Fusion Tech

Two of Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy units escaped a bid for a judgment that one of its products infringes an RSB Spine LLC patent for implant devices used in spinal fusion surgeries.

“The evidence for direct infringement relies upon sound bites about physicians who are not DePuy employees conducting testing or demonstrations,” Judge Richard G. Andrews wrote in an order issued Nov. 18 in the US District Court for the District of Delaware. “I am not convinced that the proof is sufficient.”

Andrews denied RSB’s motion for judgment that DePuy Synthes Sales Inc. and DePuy Synthes Products LLC’s Zero-P ...