Jury Awards Medtronic $51 Million in Patent Case; BrainLAB AG Found to Infringe Surgical Navigation Patents

Medtronic Navigation claimed that BrainLAB AG's VectorVision,Kolibri, Exactrac, and BrainSuite infringed claims of four patentsheld by Medtronic.

Details of the verdict are as follows:

-- All the accused BrainLAB products infringe the Bucholz and Roberts patents,

-- All the accused BrainLAB products infringe the Heilbrun '101 "machine vision" patent,

-- All the accused BrainLAB products, except Exactrac, infringe the Heilbrun '318 "pattern recognition" patent, and

-- The jury awarded total damages of $51 million.

The Bucholz patent is known as the "freehand" patent because itfrees surgeons from the need to use a cumbersome, mechanical deviceconnected to the patient's head in order to use surgical instrumentswith precision. The Bucholz invention provides a surgical navigationsystem that could track surgical instruments in the hand of thesurgeon and display the exact location of the instrument in relationto the patient's body and prior body scans.

The Roberts patent integrated pre-operative scans and contours oroutlines of tumors or other structures into the view of a surgeon'smicroscope so they could not only see the part of the patient beingoperated on but also exact outlines, such as a tumor, so the surgeoncould remove the unhealthy tissue without harming adjacent healthytissue.

The Heilbrun patents, including one known as "machine vision,"brought the benefit of scanning technology, CTs, and MRIs, into theoperating room allowing a surgeon to operate as though with X-rayvision.

"We will always place a premium on our intellectual property andare extremely happy with the jury's decision in this case," said PeteWehrly, Medtronic vice president and president of Medtronic's Spinaland Navigation businesses.

This case was filed in May 1998.

About Medtronic Navigation

Medtronic Navigation is the leading supplier of integratedimage-guided surgery products in the world. Based in Boulder County,Colorado, Medtronic Navigation is focused on research to enhancecurrent imaging systems and develop new image-guided surgeryapplications. Medtronic Navigation uses extensive research anddevelopment and strategic partnerships giving surgeons and theirpatients the safest and most effective imaging devices available inthe world.

About Medtronic

Medtronic, Inc. (www.medtronic.com), headquartered in Minneapolis,is the global leader in medical technology - alleviating pain,restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around theworld.

Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks anduncertainties such as those described in Medtronic's Annual Report onForm 10-K for the year ended April 29, 2005. Actual results may differmaterially from anticipated results.