The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has overturned a $1.1 million damage award against Greatbatch Inc., the company said Thursday.

The March 24 ruling vacates an August 2008 patent-infringement verdict delivered in a Texas court regarding surgical introducers, a delivery tool for medical products.

The claim was filed by Pressure Products Medical Supplies Inc. in 2006 against Enpath Medical Inc., which was acquired by Greatbatch in 2007. Pressure Products asserted that two of Greatbatch's products - the FlowGuard valved peelable introducer product and ViaSeal valved peelable introducer prototype - infringed on patents held by Pressure Products.

The Federal Circuit said the trial court erred in a definition it provided for a patent-claim term. The court remanded the case back to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for further proceedings, consistent with the appellate court's findings.

"We are very pleased by the appellate court's decision, which reflects how we conduct our business. That is, with deep respect of the intellectual-property rights of others," said Mauricio Arellano, senior vice president of cardiac and neurology for Greatbatch Medical. "From the time of the trial court's decision, we were extremely confident in our position. We firmly believed that the appellate court would vacate the original verdict, which it did in a nearly unanimous decision before a five-judge panel."

Greatbatch is based in Clarence.