Mallinckrodt, Inc. V. Medipart, Inc. - Factual Background

Factual Background

According to the opinions in the case, the plaintiff Mallinckrodt owned a patent on a device for dispensing a radioactive mist used in taking diagnostic lung X-rays, and for trapping the mist after use. Mallinckrodt sold the device to hospitals for about $40 or $50. Hospital personnel would load the device with a suitable radioactive fluid to perform a diagnostic procedure on a patient, use the device, and then discard it. Mallinckrodt labeled the devices it sold with the notice “Single use only.” Because the device itself cost approximately $10 to make but was sold for four or five times that, most of the purchase price that hospitals paid Mallinckrodt apparently represented the value of the patent (or the patented technology). This fact apparently led the defendant Medipart to go into the recycling business, in which Mallinckrodt itself had no direct interest (it chose to sell only new devices). For a $20 recycling fee, Medipart would clean one of the devices for a hospital, replace some parts, subject the device to gamma radiation to kill germs, and return it to the hospital for reuse. The district court and court of appeals opinions do not support the claim that a health or safety problem existed. However, Mallinckrodt asserted to the court that "potential adverse consequences, such as infectious disease transmission” provided the reason for its imposing the restriction against reuse.