MAKO vs. BlueBelt

The aggregation of IP in image-guided orthopaedic surgery can well followed through the acquisition of Acrobot by Stanmore Implants (2010) and then sold to Mako in (2013 July) then to Stryker (2013 September).  

Then in June, 2014 MAKO issued a patent infringement lawsuit against Blue Belt, based on patent No. 7, 346, 417 which was attached back by Blue Belt, claiming the patent is invalid based on a prior Blue Belt patent. In the meanwhile, Blue Belt was acquired by Smith & Nephew.

In 2016, Mako won a round in its patent war, after the U.S. Patent Trial & Appeal Board declared parts of a Blue Belt patent invalid, no. 6,757,582 covering “Methods and systems to control a shaping tool.” The review board found that Mako proved that 11 of the patent’s claims are unpatentable, but failed to show that another 32 claims are invalid.

On the top of it, Stryker is seaming winning another long-lasting case: the battle over $248M patent infringement lawsuit against Zimmer Biomet, who in the meantime acquired MedTech in 2016, the developer of ROSA orthopaedic robot (for $132m).