WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal appeals court sided with Johnson & Johnson last week in a longrunning patent dispute against rival Boston Scientific over technology used in its artery-opening stents.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a decision Jan. 15 against Johnson & Johnson. A lower court had found that the company's Cypher stent violated a patent held by Boston Scientific.

In a ruling posted online, justices on the appeals court said the Boston Scientific patent was "obvious and therefore invalid."

Stents are tiny metal-mesh scaffolds that prop open heart arteries after they have been cleared of fatty plaque. Stents from J&J, Boston Scientific and others are coated with drug formulations to prevent arteries from reclogging.

The Cordis division of New Brunswick, N.J.-based J&J appealed the case from the U.S. District Court in Delaware. A company spokesman was not immediately able to comment.

Calls placed to Boston Scientific were not immediately returned.