Medline Fends Off C.R. Bard Challenges to Catheter Patents

Health supply manufacturer and distributor Medline Industries Inc. successfully beat back C.R. Bard’s challenges to Medline’s urinary catheter tray patents.

The companies’ patent battle over urinary catheter devices comes as the market for the devices is expanding due to the prevalence of urinary disorders, a growing elderly population, and technological advances in the devices. There’s a significant amount of money at stake, too: The global urinary catheters market is expected to reach $5.51 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research Inc.

C.R. Bard claimed Medline tried to deceive the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office when it applied to get its patents issued, but a federal district court was having none of it. C.R. Bard failed to prove Medline intentionally misinformed, misled, or withheld important information from the Patent Office when it obtained its patents so it couldn’t continue to press its unfair conduct claims against Medline, Judge Sara L. Ellis of the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said.

C.R. Bard is now part of medical device giant Becton, Dickinson and Co. BD acquired C.R. Bard in late 2017, creating a medical technology company with approximately $16 billion in annualized revenue.

Medline is the largest family-owned manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies and solutions in the U.S. and has annual sales of more than $10 billion.

This suit began when Medline sued C.R. Bard in 2017 for infringing its U.S. Patent Nos. 8,745,088 and 9,795,761. Those patents cover the company’s single-layer Foley urinary catheter tray and kit. A urinary catheter is a thin tube placed in the bladder to drain urine. A Foley catheter is held inside the bladder with an inflatable balloon.

Medline’s Primary Competitor

C.R. Bard is Medline’s primary competitor in the Foley catheter tray market. According to Medline, C.R. Bard’s sales of its “copycat” single-layer SureStep Foley Tray System infringes the ‘088 and ‘761 patents.

Medline says its patented one-layer system simplifies the steps for catheter insertion and helps ensure the sterility of the procedure with the aim of reducing hospital-acquired infections, the company said. Urinary tract infections linked to catheters are the leading type of hospital-acquired infection, according to Medline.

C.R. Bard didn’t adequately allege Medline materially misled the Patent Office or that it intended to deceive the Patent Office when it prosecuted its patents, Ellis said. She tossed C.R. Bard’s inequitable conduct claims against Medline and also tossed C.R. Bard’s inequitable conduct defense.

No one at Medline was available to respond to Bloomberg Law’s request for comment on the decision. BD doesn’t comment on ongoing lawsuits, BD representative Troy Fitzpatrick told Bloomberg Law Sept. 12.

Cooley LLP and Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery represented Northfield, Ill.-based Medline.

Morrison & Foerster LLP and KrausFlaming LLC represented Franklin, Lakes, N.J.-based BD subsidiary C.R. Bard.

The case is Medline Indus., Inc. v. C.R. Bard, Inc., 2018 BL 326749, N.D. Ill., No. 17 C 7216, 9/11/18.