Medtronic is being sued for patent infringement by a Beverly Hills surgeon.

• A hernia repair mesh product created by a Beverly Hills surgeon is being sued by Medtronic for patent infringement.
• It's the latest in a series of patent challenges against Medtronic.
• Medtronic has a history of respecting the intellectual property rights of other innovators, as stated by a spokesperson in a CNBC interview.

A global leader in medical devices is being sued by Dr. Shirin Towfigh, who claims the company stole her patented design for a medical device intended to revolutionize hernia care for women.

The Beverly Hills surgeon, with over 22 years of experience, discovered that many of her hernia patients experiencing post-surgery complications were women. She found that most mesh designs on the market were primarily designed for the male anatomy.

In 2016, she filed for a patent to improve outcomes for patients with a new design.

A lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware accusing Medtronic of stealing a design from Towfigh, who met the medical device company in 2015 and signed a non-disclosure agreement. In 2016, Towfigh visited Medtronic's manufacturing site in France to discuss a potential collaboration and her patent-pending product.

In May 2017, Towfigh claims that Medtronic filed a hernia mesh patent for a product that closely resembles her design.

Towfigh expressed disappointment in a publicly traded company's lack of ethical behavior, which did not align with their expectations, in an interview with CNBC.

Towfigh is suing for damages of an undetermined amount.

Medtronic is reviewing Towfigh's complaint, as stated by a spokesperson for the company in a CNBC statement.

The spokesperson stated that Medtronic values innovation and has a track record of respecting the intellectual property rights of other innovators.

Towfigh, in a 2019 email exchange cited in the lawsuit, expressed concern that Medtronic's new mesh design "exactly mirrored" her pending patent. However, a company representative responded to Towfigh saying Medtronic was "not going in the path of what you described to us in your patent." Despite following up multiple times with Medtronic over several years, Towfigh made little progress.

Medtronic offered Towfigh a job as chief medical officer of their hernia division, but she declined.

In 2020, a Medtronic sales representative presented her with a pre-market sample of their new hernia mesh product, which she described as almost identical to her own patent-pending design.

"Towfigh couldn't speak when he saw the actual product in his hands for the first time and felt pale."

In May 2020, Medtronic launched its new hernia mesh product, Dextile, while Towfigh's international patent was approved in October 2019.

Medtronic has faced allegations of patent infringement before, with Dr. Mark Barry suing the company in 2014 for allegedly copying his technology intended to correct spinal issues. The federal judge found that Medtronic acted recklessly and awarded Barry $23.5 million.

In the same year, Edwards Lifesciences and Medtronic reached a settlement of over $1 billion to resolve patent disputes over the CoreValve product's alleged infringement on Edwards' transcatheter heart valve patent.

In 2020, Colibri Heart Valve sued Medtronic for patent infringement related to heart valve replacement devices for patients with cardiac conditions. The court ordered Medtronic to pay $106.5 million in damages.

— CNBC's Scott Zamost and Agne Tolockaite contributed to this report.