Jury nullifies patents held by Natick firm

Johnson & Johnson, the world's largest maker of medical devices for the heart, persuaded a jury to invalidate patents held by rival Boston Scientific Corp. of Natick for tubes used to unclog coronary arteries.

A federal jury in San Francisco yesterday sided with J&J's Cordis unit on its claims that four Boston Scientific patents shouldn't have been granted and its rival had infringed one of Cordis's patents. Boston Scientific had sought as much as $99 million in royalties.

Boston Scientific "believes the finding of infringement is in error" and "will request the judge to overturn it.".

Boston Scientific, the second-largest maker of heart devices, sued Florida-based Cordis in 2002, claiming it infringed patents covering features of the chemically treated and multilayered tubes used to guide balloon catheters into place during angioplasty surgery.

More than 1.4 million angioplasty surgeries were performed in the United States last year, according to BMO Capital Markets in New York.