Intuitive Flips $10 Million Award in Tissue-Stapling Patent Suit

Intuitive Surgical Inc. convinced a federal trial court to toss a $10 million jury award in favor of Rex Medical LP in a suit alleging a stapler used in Intuitive’s da Vinci Surgical System infringes a patent for a tissue-stapling system.

The award can’t stand because the evidence presented at trial failed “to provide any basis from which a factfinder could assign any portion of the $10,000,000 to the ‘650 patent alone,” Judge Maryellen Noreika of the US District Court for the District of Delaware said Wednesday.

The court, however, affirmed the jury’s finding that Intuitive violated the patent and ...