Do PMI products infringe on the European intellectual property rights of Ethicon? Will the sale of the SurgASSIST circular stapler product continue inspite of the lawsuit? Does PMI’s ability to prevail in two of the three lawsuits validate the integrity of PMI’s intellectual property?
Power Medical Interventions(r), Inc…announced today that the Court of Appeal of Dusseldorf, Germany has awarded the Company a provisional stay of enforcement in its ongoing patent infringement litigation with Ethicon Endo-Surgery, a Johnson & Johnson company. This stay of enforcement grants PMI the right to recommence sales in Germany of the SurgASSIST circular stapler product in question. PMI had circular stapler revenues of approximately $700,000 in Germany for the twelve months preceding the stoppage of sales in May 2006.
Ethicon Endo-Surgery initiated a three patent infringement lawsuit against PMI and the company’s subsidiary, PMI Deutschland, in district court in Dusseldorf, Germany in March 2005. The lawsuits allege that certain PMI products infringe the German counterparts of three European patents owned by Ethicon Endo-Surgery. To date, PMI’s products were found not to infringe two of these patents and, even though the company expects a favorable ruling on the third patent, judgment is not expected to be rendered in the near future…
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