MAKO Beats Blue Belt in Court

MAKO Surgical Corp. has won its court battle with Blue Belt Technologies, Inc. and former employee, Jeff Gellman.

On April 4, 2013, MAKO announced that it had obtained an Order Granting Permanent Injunction keeping Blue Belt from employing Gellman and requiring the destruction of all proprietary MAKO business information in Blue Belt’s possession.

Blue Belt hired Gellman, MAKO’s former sales manager, on January 30, 2013 as West Area vice president of sales. MAKO sued Gellman and Blue Belt to enforce a non-competition agreement between MAKO and Gellman. MAKO also accused Gellman of taking trade secrets to Blue Belt and wanted to prohibit the use or disclosure of that information.

By court order dated April 4, 2013, Gellman is prohibited from working for Blue Belt in any capacity until August 2013, and may only work in a limited capacity thereafter until 2014. Furthermore, according to the MAKO press release, both Blue Belt and Gellman have been ordered to certify under penalty of perjury that all MAKO proprietary information in their possession has been permanently purged. The U.S. District Court retained jurisdiction of the matter to ensure compliance with its order.

“MAKO is pleased with the sweeping and substantial injunctive relief we obtained on an expedited basis, ” said Maurice R. Ferré, M.D., president and CEO of MAKO. “We will remain vigilant in protecting the substantial investments made in becoming the leader in the field of robotically assisted orthopedic surgery.”

The Order for Permanent Injunction was entered contemporaneous to a separate settlement agreement among Blue Belt, Gellman and MAKO, which provided MAKO with the described stipulated order, along with additional relief and future protections.

Eric Timko, Blue Belt’s CEO, released a statement on April 4 saying the company had resolved the lawsuit filed by MAKO.

“We believe that this lawsuit was without merit and MAKO failed to prove that Blue Belt engaged in any wrongdoing. In fact, MAKO failed to substantiate many of the allegations it made in its complaint and we are confident that Blue Belt would have prevailed had the litigation continued. At the same time, however, Blue Belt determined that it is in our best interest to compete with MAKO by selling our new robotic technology in the marketplace, instead of competing in the courtroom, where no surgeon or patient can benefit. We have established great momentum since officially launching NavioPFS in the U.S. We fully expect to continue rapidly expanding our presence in the marketplace as more physicians and hospitals see the benefits that NavioPFS can bring to their patients and facilities at an economically friendly price point.”

Timko told OTW that the company is confident that this short-term resolution will not disrupt their business in any way.

Blue Belt is involved in a similar case in federal court in Michigan with Stryker Corporation over Blue Belt’s hiring of former Stryker employee James Bruty. The federal judge had granted Stryker’s motion for a temporary injunction to keep Bruty from attending the recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. As of this writing, no permanent settlement has been announced in that case.