As lead defense counsel for Medtronic, Maslon obtained summary judgment dismissal of federal trade secret misappropriation claims worth $55 million and negotiated favorable settlement of related copyright infringement claims related to the company’s Abre venous stent.

In an amended complaint filed in March 2019, plaintiff Dr. Seshadri Raju—a vascular surgery specialist—named Medtronic a defendant in a significant, ongoing intellectual property dispute against his former business partner, Dr. Erin Murphy. In the original dispute, Raju accused Murphy of breaching a 2014 employment agreement that included non-compete provisions and a confidentiality agreement. Raju expanded the suit to include Medtronic upon discovering that Murphy had been hired by the medical device manufacturer to support FDA approval of the company’s Abre venous stent while still employed with Raju. Consequently, Raju alleged that Medtronic misappropriated his trade secrets and copyrighted materials in order to commercialize the product.

Raju’s claims against Medtronic included misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference with a contract, civil conspiracy, and copyright infringement. He sought $55 million in damages from Medtronic for the alleged trade secret misappropriation, plus $130,000 for alleged related copyright infringement.

After the Maslon team deposed key witnesses and brought the summary judgment motion, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi granted summary judgment in favor of Medtronic on all aspects of plaintiff’s trade secret misappropriation claims. The court also prevented plaintiff from seeking statutory damages or attorney's fees on related copyright infringement claims, which later settled on terms favorable to Medtronic. Maslon also obtained a ruling striking plaintiff's expert witness reports, while denying plaintiff's request to strike defendant's expert report.

The Maslon team included Bill Pentelovitch, Terry Newby, and Nate Ajouri. The case was Seshadri Raju, M.D., P.A. v. Medtronic, Inc. (No. 3:17-CV-357, S.D. Miss., March 2021).