Opinion ID: 210676
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Stryker's Dealings with Opinion Counsel

Text: 7 On August 28, 2002, Stryker's German patent attorney, Edo Graalfs, wrote a letter to his American counterpart, Raymond W. Augustin, regarding the humeral nail Stryker was in the process of developing. Graalfs expressed concern that the Stryker nail might infringe the '444 patent: 8 [T]he independent claim 1 of this U.S. patent has a relatively brought [ sic, broad] scope of protection . . . . I advised that the nail must not be provided with a curvature as this is a feature of independent claim 1. Now it turned out that for business reasons it would be a requirement to also use a curved shank. I expressed my doubts . . . that it could be possible to find a structure not covered by the mentioned U.S. patent. 9 Augustin then placed a memorandum to file dated December 13, 2002, in which he echoed Graalfs' concerns: 10 [T]he Stryker Trauma humeral nail would have each and every element of claim 1 . . . of the '444 patent. . . . [I]t is our opinion that there is no strong invalidity argument which could be used against all the '444 issued claims based on the prior art known at this time. . . . In conclusion, it is our opinion that a curved version of the Stryker Trauma humeral nail . . . should not be marketed in the United States. 11 Testimony at trial indicated that the Stryker nail eventually sold in the United States did not differ in any relevant respect from the design specifications reviewed by Graalfs and Augustin in writing these letters. 12 After his initial memorandum to file, Augustin drafted a formal opinion of counsel letter and transmitted it to Stryker on November 19, 2003. This opinion letter was longer and more detailed than the earlier memo to file. In it, Augustin concluded—using claim construction arguments basically identical to those made by Stryker during this litigation—that the Stryker nail would not infringe any claim of the '444 patent either literally or by equivalents. He also expressed a belief that Claim 1 of the '444 patent was invalid due to anticipation by an earlier Stryker product. 1 13 At trial, Acumed presented evidence tending to show that Stryker did not seriously rely upon the later opinion letter from Augustin. For instance, Stryker filed with the FDA its application for the accused device on August 14, 2003, some months before Augustin transmitted the favorable opinion letter. Gregory Plakson, Stryker's Director of Intellectual Property, testified at his deposition that he did not understand portions of the opinion letter and did not ask Augustin anything about the opinion. Acumed also presented evidence tending to show copying by Stryker, including that a Stryker consultant confiscated from an operating room a how-to chart detailing the assembly and insertion of Acumed's product.