Former UPMC surgeon, partner sue Irish company over patent

Two doctors, including a retired UPMC surgeon, sued an Irish company on Tuesday, claiming the business is willfully infringing on their patent for a surgical device.

Enrico Nicolo of Jefferson Hills and Biagio Ravo of Rome filed the six-page lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Downtown, against Covidien PLC.

The lawsuit claims Covidien markets and sells a surgical product -- EEATM Hemorrhoid & Prolapse Staplers -- that infringes on a 2000 patent the doctors received for their Intraluminal Anastomotic Device.

Nicolo and Ravo's device allows surgeons to operate on areas such as the colon without exposing the abdomen to the contents of the colon, Nicolo said.

"It's like a bowel inside a bowel," Nicolo said. "You can operate without opening the bowel to the rest of the body."

Lisa Clemence, a spokeswoman for Covidien, said the company does not comment on pending litigation. Covidien's headquarters in the United States is in Mansfield, Mass.

Nicolo, a former president of the Pittsburgh Surgical Society, said his device is important because stool can get into the abdomen if the bowel is opened during surgery.

Nicolo was the assistant clinical professor of surgery at UPMC, on the teaching staff of the family practice residency program at UPMC McKeesport and medical director at the Kane Regional Medical Center, McKeesport, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is seeking monetary damages, including a royalty.