MiMedx Patent Infringement Lawsuit Updates

MARIETTA, Ga., Sept. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MiMedx Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDXG), the leading biopharmaceutical company developing and marketing regenerative and therapeutic biologics utilizing proprietary human placental tissue allografts, announced today that the Company prevailed in its patent infringement lawsuit against Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, Inc. ("MTF"), Medline Industries, Inc. ("Medline") and Liventa Bioscience, Inc. ("Liventa") last month against motions for summary judgment brought by the defendants in an effort to circumvent trial. 

With those motions decided in MiMedx's favor, the District Court ordered the Parties to submit Pre-Trial submissions later this month.  The case will then be assigned a trial date.

In April of 2014, MiMedx filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against MTF, Medline, and Liventa (formerly known as AFCell Medical, Inc.) for permanent injunctive relief and unspecified damages. In its suit, MiMedx asserted, among other things, that Defendants infringed certain MiMedx patents, and that the Defendants knowingly and willfully made false and misleading representations about their respective products to providers, patients, and in some cases, prospective investors.

In June of 2016, MiMedx entered into a confidential settlement on the false advertising claims for an undisclosed sum of money paid to MiMedx.  MiMedx then focused its attention on the resolution of the patent-related claims.

Parker H. "Pete" Petit, Chairman and CEO, said, "We are pleased that the MTF, Liventa and Medline efforts to avoid a trial through summary judgment and other legal maneuvers have failed.  We now believe we are finally at the stage where the court should be able to set a trial date. The defendants filed for summary judgment on numerous aspects of the lawsuit in hopes they could have some, if not all, of the infringement allegations adjudicated in their favor without a trial.  The defendants were unsuccessful.  Once the Court advises us of the specific trial date, we will issue a press release."

Bill Taylor, President and COO, stated, "We have always been confident in the ultimate outcome of this patent lawsuit.  Unlike other companies that have been hurt by continued infringement, MiMedx has continued, and will continue, to take a stand against those it believes are unlawfully infringing on the Company's rights.  We have almost 100 patents in our portfolio, and we see our lawsuits as part of our strategy to never allow competitors to steal MiMedx's innovations without consequences.  Our success against these summary judgment motions furthers that strategy in so far as it positions us to go to trial despite numerous efforts by the Defendants to thwart it."

Taylor also commented on the status of some of the other infringement cases.  "Our case against Nutech and DCI Donor Services also received a favorable Markman decision some time back and is now in the throes of discovery.  We feel confident in our ability to have this case proceed to trial as well."           

The Company also announced an adverse decision concerning a single claim of the Company's '494 patent which was being asserted against Transplant Technology, Inc. d/b/a Bone Bank Allografts and Texas Human Biologics, Ltd.  The decision only concerns claim 9 of the '494 Patent – it does not relate to any of the other claims.   

About this decision, Petit said, "We believe this opinion on claim 9 of the '494 patent was wrongly decided and ran contrary to claim constructions adopted by two other Federal District Courts. We will appeal this decision.  And, you should understand that the decision does not impact this patent as a whole, nor any of the dozens of patents and patent applications MiMedx has as part of its portfolio." 

Taylor stated, "That the Texas Court's decision is contrary to two other District Courts which are familiar with this patent gives us confidence on our appeal prospects.  Regardless, this decision will not deter MiMedx's efforts to stop infringers – including evaluating other patents in our portfolio to assert." 

The Company also  announced that the Court of Appeals affirmed an adverse decision from over a year ago by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) against the Company's ancillary '437 Patent. The '437 patent is essentially a product by process patent.  As the Company reported, in its press releases of August 27, 2015 and September 2, 2015, the '437 patent is not one of MiMedx's primary configuration patents, but rather an ancillary patent. 

Petit said, "I have always said that MiMedx will pursue to the letter of the law all infringers, but, we will win the war in the market-place – which is where it counts.  We are doing exactly that, and this decision doesn't impact either." 

Taylor echoed the sentiment, "This patent was long since dropped in all of our cases.  The novelty of our products is well demonstrated by their dominance in the market."                  

About MiMedx
MiMedx® is the leading biopharmaceutical company developing and marketing regenerative and therapeutic biologics utilizing human placental tissue allografts with patent-protected processes for multiple sectors of healthcare. "Innovations in Regenerative Medicine" is the framework behind our mission to give physicians products and tissues to help the body heal itself.  We process the human placental tissue utilizing our proprietary PURION® Process among other processes, to produce safe and effective allografts.   MiMedx proprietary processing methodology employs aseptic processing techniques in addition to terminal sterilization.  MiMedx is the leading supplier of placental tissue, having supplied over 1,000,000 allografts to date for application in the Wound Care, Burn, Surgical, Orthopedic, Spine, Sports Medicine, Ophthalmic and Dental sectors of healthcare. For additional information, please visit www.mimedx.com.

Important Cautionary Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements, including statements regarding expectations about the ultimate outcome of these cases, including expectations regarding the timing of any trial and whether MiMedx will be successful in obtaining injunctive or monetary relief, and whether the Company will be successful in protecting its intellectual property from infringers.   These statements also may be identified by words such as "believe," "except," "may," "plan," "potential," "will" and similar expressions, and are based on our current beliefs and expectations. Forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and we caution investors against placing undue reliance on such statements.  Actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include the risks that the Company will suffer delays, adverse court decisions, or otherwise be unable to protect its intellectual property from infringers.  For more detailed information on the risks and uncertainties, please review the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual report or quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

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SOURCE MiMedx Group, Inc.