VNUS Medical Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of medical devices for the minimally invasive treatment of venous reflux disease, announced that it has asserted patent infringement claims in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, against biolitec Inc. (Biolitec), Dornier MedTech America, Inc. (Dornier) and NewStar Lasers, Inc. d/b/a CoolTouch, Inc. (CoolTouch).
Biolitec, CoolTouch and Dornier market endovenous laser ablation products for use in procedures which VNUS believes infringe several of its patents. VNUS is seeking an injunction prohibiting these companies from selling these products, in addition to monetary damages.
The new lawsuit involves patents that VNUS previously asserted in 2005 against Diomed Holdings, Inc., AngioDynamics, Inc. and Vascular Solutions, Inc. VNUS entered into an agreement on June 3, 2008 with AngioDynamics and Vascular Solutions that settled the 2005 lawsuit against those companies. As a part of the agreement, non-exclusive, non-sub-licensable patent licenses were granted to AngioDynamics and Vascular Solutions and the licensees stipulated that the VNUS patents-in-suit are valid, enforceable, and were infringed.
Brian Farley, president and CEO, commented, "The filing of this patent infringement suit is the next logical step in the enforcement of our intellectual property. We are committed to enforcement, while at the same time we remain open to discussing the potential opportunity for the defendant companies to obtain a limited license from VNUS."
Founded in 1995 and headquartered in San Jose, California, VNUS Medical Technologies is a worldwide leader in medical devices for the minimally invasive treatment of venous reflux disease, a progressive condition that causes the varicose veins afflicting 25 million Americans.