Medinol v. Abbott, District Court The Hague (Rechtbank Den Haag), 23 December 2009

The District Court of The Hague held that Abbott does not infringe Medinol's patent. According to the Court there is also no reason to accept infringement by equivalence, since the meander patterns in the infringing embodiment fulfill another function than the claimed ‘second meander patterns’ as further explained in the patent in suit. This means that the stents of Abbott cannot be considered equivalent or substantially identical as to fall within the scope of Medinol's patent.

The full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.