Inamed Patent Deal Was Valid, Judge Rules

Inamed Corp.’s 2000 agreement with a Johnson & Johnson unit to resolve a patent and royalties dispute over an obesity treatment was a valid contract, a federal appeals court concluded.

The appellate court decided that a federal judge in Los Angeles had erred in concluding that the agreement with Dr. Lubomyr Kuzmak and Ethicon Endo-Surgery was not a binding contract, Inamed Vice President Peter Nicholson said. Ethicon is a Johnson & Johnson unit.

Inamed’s “Lap-Band” obesity treatment, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2001, accounts for about 20% of the company’s worldwide sales, Nicholson said. The royalties dispute involved the sale of Lap-Band in the U.S.