St. Jude Medical's AGA Medical Subsidiary Files Patent Infringement Lawsuits Against Occlutech

St. Jude Medical, Inc. STJ today announced that AGA Medical, Inc. (acquired by St. Jude Medical in November 2010) has filed lawsuits against Occlutech GmbH and Occlutech U.K. for patent infringement. The suits, which involve a total of three patents and seek injunctive relief and monetary damages, were filed in Germany and the U.K. at the District Court of Duesseldorf and the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court, respectively. The patent infringement lawsuits allege that products distributed by Occlutech, namely the companies' atrial septal defect and patent foramen ovale closure/occlusion devices, infringe on key patents used for the St. Jude Medical Amplatzer® occlusion device platform. The platform, which is comprised of nitinol-based occlusion devices and accessories, offers minimally invasive transcatheter treatments for the safe and effective closure of structural defects found in a patient's heart.