Karl Storz Endoscopy believes it should be the sole producer of integrated OR control systems. Stryker Corporation disagrees. A jury will settle the dispute next month.

Karl Storz's product infringement lawsuit centers on its patented protection of a panel physicians can use "to view data and to enter commands manually without leaving the location a surgeon occupies while using surgical instruments to perform a procedure on a patient," which court documents define as the "operating station." According to the lawsuit, Stryker's SIDNE Suite centrally controls devices such as endoscopic cameras, light sources, insufflators, arthroscopy pumps and surgical tables.

Stryker concedes the SIDNE suite lets users view data and enter commands manually at a single location, but disputes that the products are used within the surgeon's operating station because the suite cannot be sterilized.

Karl Storz backs its infringement claims by referencing Stryker marketing materials that state SIDNE devices can be used from "anywhere in the operating room." It also cites eyewitness reports of surgeons touching unsterilized control panels, and then re-gloving to restore sterile protocol. Stryker's marketing director acknowledges this practice does occur, court records show.

However, Stryker says re-gloving "makes no sense" from a practical standpoint, and claims Karl Storz did not prove surgeons have re-gloved while using the SIDNE suite.

A United States District Court says Stryker's impracticality argument lacks sufficient evidence, but did rule that whether surgeons re-gloved while using its products is up for genuine dispute. The ruling paves the way for the jury trial to proceed.

Attorneys for Stryker and Karl Storz did not respond to requests for comment.

Daniel Cook