U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Finds Arthrex Guilty of Infringing Smith & Nephew Endoscopy Patent

ANDOVER, Mass., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Smith & Nephew, Inc., Endoscopy Division, a subsidiary of Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE: SNN) (London Stock Exchange: SN) announced today that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled in Smith & Nephew's favor and found privately-held Arthrex Inc., (Naples, Fla.) guilty of infringing U.S. Patent 5,645,588.  The jury awarded Smith & Nephew $4.7 million for Arthrex's past infringement.  

Smith & Nephew Endoscopy sued Arthrex nearly three years ago, claiming that Arthrex's Retrobutton Femoral Fixation device infringed a U.S. patent owned by Smith & Nephew Endoscopy.  The patent asserted in the claim covers Smith & Nephew's ENDOBUTTON^™ Fixation Device and similar devices for attaching tissue grafts to bone during arthroscopic surgery in the knee.

The company plans to seek an injunction that will stop Arthrex from selling the infringing Retrobutton Femoral Fixation device.

"Smith & Nephew has a long and proud history of providing medical devices that help surgeons to deliver positive patient outcomes," commented Mike Frazzette, president, Smith & Nephew Endoscopy.  "As a result, we will vigorously protect our intellectual property rights against Arthrex and other companies that infringe our patents."

^™Trademark of Smith & Nephew

About Smith & Nephew

Smith & Nephew is a global medical technology business, specialising in Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Orthopaedic Trauma and Clinical Therapies, Endoscopy and Advanced Wound Management products.  Smith & Nephew is a global leader in arthroscopy and advanced wound management and is one of the leading global orthopaedics companies.

Smith & Nephew is dedicated to helping improve people's lives. The Company prides itself on the strength of its relationships with its surgeons and professional healthcare customers, with whom its name is synonymous with high standards of performance, innovation and trust. The Company operates in 31 countries around the world. Annual sales in 2009 were $3.8 billion.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In particular, statements regarding planned growth in our business and in our operating margins discussed under "Outlook" are forward-looking statements as are discussions of our product pipeline. These statements, as well as the phrases "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions, are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors (including, but not limited to, the outcome of litigation and regulatory approvals) that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Smith & Nephew, or industry results, to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Please refer to the documents that Smith & Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith & Nephew's most recent annual report on Form 20F, for a discussion of certain of these factors.

All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Smith & Nephew as of the date hereof. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Smith & Nephew or any person acting on behalf of Smith & Nephew are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing. Smith & Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Smith & Nephew's expectation with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

SOURCE Smith & Nephew, Inc.