Texas jury awards plaintiff $482 million in Johnson and Johnson stent battle

From Reuters: "A federal jury in Texas has rendered a $482 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson, finding its widely used Cypher stent infringes on the patent of an outside researcher, the company said on Friday. Dr. Bruce Saffran filed the lawsuit, saying that his stent patent was valid and that the healthcare company infringed on it. J&J said the company disagrees with the jury's decision, and will fight it. "We will ask the judge to overturn this verdict and if unsuccessful, we plan to appeal the verdict," a J&J spokesperson said. Saffran's law firm, Dickstein Shapiro LLP, in a release, said the jury deliberated for two hours before returning its verdict. The law firm said another federal jury in the same Marshall, Texas, courthouse three years ago rendered a $431.9 million verdict against Boston Scientific Corp, finding that its Taxus stent also infringed Saffran's patent"