Medical Device Maker Defeats Knockoff Firm’s Arbitration Demand

A Chinese company accused of making knockoff medical devices lost its bid to force an Ohio-based device maker to arbitrate fraud claims because it wasn’t a party to an arbitration agreement, the Sixth Circuit said.

Beijing Medical Scientific couldn’t invoke the doctrine of equitable estoppel to apply an arbitration clause in a contract between AtriCure Inc. and its Chinese distributor Beijing ZenoMed Scientific to compel resolution of the dispute between it and AtriCure outside litigation, a split U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said.

But Beijing Medical’s owner, Jian Meng, might be able to compel arbitration, as he ...