The county’s heart valve Goliath is taking a local David to court.
Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said Thursday its subsidiary working on a new type of heart valve filed suit against rival CoreValve Inc. of Irvine for alleged patent infringement.
Edwards, which is developing a heart valve that doesn’t require major surgery, charges that CoreValve infringed a patent for transcatheter heart valve technology.
The patent is co-owned by a Danish physician and his colleagues. Edwards has an exclusive sublicense on the patent.
In a statement, Chief Executive Michael Mussallem said Edwards is “committed to protecting our valuable intellectual property,” but is opening talks with CoreValve, which moved to Irvine from France last year.
Rob Michiels, CoreValve’s president and chief operating officer, held several global sales and marketing jobs with Edwards back when it was Baxter International Inc.’s heart valve unit.
