COLUMN: Business briefs

Telegram & Gazette

Bloomberg Index

Central Massachusetts

-8.59

139.56

Volume: 83,501,271

Up: 4

Down: 20

Unchanged: 5

Gainer: Caliper Life Sciences Inc. $2.41 +$.30 (volume

Decliner: L.S. Starrett Co. $15.07 -$4.48 (volume of 26,000 shares)

Local

Appeal rejected

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Boston Scientific Corp., leaving intact a jury finding that led to a $703 million award against the company for infringing a Johnson & Johnson patent for coronary stents.

The rebuff comes less than a week after a trial judge said New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson's Cordis subsidiary was entitled to $1.2 billion, including interest, from Boston Scientific and Medtronic Inc. in the 11-year-old case. Boston Scientific has said it will file a new appeal challenging the award itself.

At the Supreme Court, Natick-based Boston Scientific sought to overturn a jury's conclusion that the company infringed a Cordis patent. In January, a federal appeals court in Washington upheld that verdict and a similar one against Medtronic. Cordis opted not to file a response at the Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal without comment yesterday.

Medtronic hasn't appealed its part of the case to the high court. Coronary stents are tiny mesh tubes that prop open heart arteries after they have been cleared of plaque. The Cordis suit centered on Boston Scientific's Nir stent, which that company no longer makes.

Boston Scientific has operations in Marlboro. (Bloomberg News)

Gold for Evergreen

WELLESLEY - The Massachusetts Alliance for Economic Development announced its Fifth Annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Award winners, with Evergreen Solar Inc. of Marlboro winning the gold, Sepracor Inc. of Marlboro taking silver and Lonza Hopkinton of Hopkinton winning bronze.

The companies were judged on the contributions to the state's economy, specifically, their attributes in the categories of job growth, facility expansion, investment, and community involvement since Jan. 1, 2007. The awards will be presented on Nov. 25 at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, with Gov. Deval L. Patrick as guest speaker.

Featured speaker

MARLBORO - SEPATON Inc., an enterprise-class data protection solutions company, today announced that its chief technology officer, Miklos Sandorfi, will be a featured speaker at Storage Networking World, Oct. 13 at The Gaylord Texan in Dallas.

Seminar at Clark

WORCESTER - The Clark University Small Business Development Center will hold a seminar, "Tips for Starting Your Business," from 8:45 a.m. to noon Oct. 9 at Grace Conference Room, Higgins University Center, Clark University, 950 Main St.

The cost is $39 per person and $30 for each additional person or workshop. For more information, call (508) 793-7615 or send e-mail to sbdc@clarku.edu.

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