On August 24, 2009, Dr. Bruce N. Saffran filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories Inc., claiming the company’s medicated stent infringes his 1997 stent patent.

Saffran was previously awarded $431 million in a patent infringement lawsuit against Boston Scientific Corp. over the same patent, and is currently awaiting trial for another lawsuit filed against Johnson & Johnson over the same issue.

The lawsuit filed against Abbott Laboratories alleges the company’s “Xience” medicated stent, used to prop open arteries, is the infringing device. The stent’s have been sold in the global market for three years.

Source(s): Jon Kamp, “Doctor files patent-infringement suit vs Abbott over stents,” CNNMoney.com, August 26, 2009 (http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200908261024DOWJONESDJONLINE000455_FORTUNE5.htm).