The battle between Meril Life Sciences and Edwards Lifesciences concerns EP 3 494 928 B1, which protects a prosthetic heart valve. It is one of several patents owned by Edwards Lifesciences, over which the parties have fought bitterly for years in various jurisdictions. EP 928 was part of a lawsuit in which the US company attacked Meril’s MyVal product line.
Multiple oppositions pending
EP 928 was granted in 2020. In August of the same year Meril filed an opposition, with Abbott filing a further opposition in spring 2021. The Opposition Division then upheld the patent in amended form in December 2022. First Abbott and then Meril appealed the decision.
Meril filed the opposition on the grounds of added matter and lack of inventive step. Following the amendments, the company dropped the argument of added matter. Now the Boards of Appeal have revoked EP 928 due to lack of inventive step.
The dispute over Meril’s MyVal products also involves EP 3 593 762 B1, EP 3 498 226 B1, EP 3 590 471 B1, EP 2 628 464 B1, and EP 3 494 930 B1. While the Boards of Appeal revoked the latter in July 2024, the Opposition Division upheld EP 464 and EP 226 in amended form. Oppositions against the other patents are still pending. A further patent in this dispute, EP 3 494 929, relates to a delivery system for transcatheter heart valves.
Parallel case at UPC
In parallel, the opponents are also fighting over Meril’s new generation of transcatheter heart valves named Octacore. In this context, the EPO had already revoked EP 3 583 920 in December 2023.
Parts of this dispute are pending at the UPC, where Meril suffered a defeat last November. The local division Munich found the Indian company infringed Edward Lifesciences’ EP 3 646 825, which had previously been upheld in the revocation action.
Edwards Lifesciences has also filed UPC infringement proceedings against Meril at the Stockholm-based Nordic-Baltic division over EP 2 628 464 and EP 3 769 722. The latter is the subject of a hearing taking place today at the Nordic Baltic Division. Furthermore, a strawman opposition against EP 722 is pending at the EPO.
Passing the baton
Edwards Lifesciences relied on its go-to patent attorney firm Thum IP. Name partner Bernhard Thum and Jonas Weickert led the proceedings. While Eisenführ Speiser was responsible for filing the patent application, Thum — then still at Wuesthoff & Wuesthoff — took over the representation of the US medical technology manufacturer. He then took the client with him when he founded the IP firm Thum & Partner in autumn 2021. Since then, he has represented Edwards Lifesciences in numerous EPO opposition proceedings and at the UPC.
The opposition for Meril was led by UK patent attorneys Jonathan Stafford and Gregory Carty-Hornsby, partners at mixed UK patent firm Marks & Clerk.
Originally, Hogan Lovells had filed the opposition at the EPO on behalf of Meril. Patent attorney and partner Alexander Klicznik continues to provide technical support for the lawyers in various national and UPC proceedings across the extensive campaign. Hogan Lovells is also coordinating the overall dispute Europe-wide for Meril.
In its opposition to EP 928 Abbott relied on a team from the American-European IP law firm LK Global.
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