Synthes is fighting an ex-employee in court alleging, among other things, illegal use of proprietary information. John Marotta is trying to make generic medical devices--and he may have hit on a good business model. "The payers are moving in our direction," said Marotta, CEO of Emerge Medical and former Synthes sales consultant. "If you have a $6,000 total knee replacement and a $3,000 total knee replacement that is substantially equivalent, with the same clinical outcome, the market will choose the $3,000 knee." And this week, his attorney decided to fight back, filing a counterclaim in federal court accusing Synthes of antitrust violations, making misleading statements and trying to crush Emerge through litigation. Item