SAN FRANCISCO — A Medtronic implantable heart valve may be “safer” and present a “lower risk of death,” but the company is willfully infringing a competitor’s version and therefore is being ordered off the market by a Delaware federal judge.

That had Medtronic’s attorney pleading for a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday in what he contends is literally a life-and-death case.