Two-edge sword of justice

The jury giveth and the judge taketh away. CellPro Inc. got a nasty shock last week when Judge Roderick McKelvey of the U.S. District Court in Delaware set aside a jury's August 1995 decision in favor of the company and ordered a new trial in CPRO's patent dispute with Baxter Healthcare Corp., Becton Dickinson and Co. and the Johns Hopkins University.

The judge also ruled in favor of the plaintiffs' claims against CPRO on certain infringement charges, but did not rule on the validity of the patents that CPRO contends are invalid...