Poly Medicure Ltd., an India-based manufacturer and exporter of safety IV Catheters, has been restrained by the Regional Court, Düsseldorf, from marketing its products which have been found prima facie to be infringing the patent of B. Braun Melsungen AG, Germany in a preliminary injunction proceeding initiated by B Braun in Germany.
The subject matter of the legal proceedings is safety IV Catheters which Poly Medicure manufacturers in India under the brand “Poly Safety” and which are marketed in Germany by Troge Medical GmbH and megro GmbH & Co. KG under the brand “Tro-Vensite Safety”.
The Regional Court, Düsseldorf, found the marketing of these products an infringement of the German part of B.Braun’s patent EP 1 911 486 (registered in Germany under DE 698 41 231) and granted preliminary injunctions against Poly Medicure, Troge Medical and megro restraining their activities.
B. Braun Melsungen AG served the preliminary injunctions on the respective companies at their stand on the world’s leading medical trade fair MEDICA and where these companies attended as exhibitors. All infringing IV Catheters on the stands had to be handed over to the court bailiff. The MEDICA is held annually in November in Düsseldorf.
Under German procedural laws the defendants have the option to appeal against the preliminary injunctions and to request B. Braun to start proceedings on merits.
This is the most recent action by B. Braun in a series of actions taken in the past two years including two in India to enforce its patent rights comprehensively. Poly Medicure’s earlier participation in MEDICA in 2007 where it had displayed a safety IV Catheter infringing B. Braun’s Indian patent had led to an infringement proceeding against it in India in early 2008.
In the meantime, the High Court of Delhi admitted an appeal filed by B.Braun against Poly Medicure Ltd. while refusing to grant any interim relief in the appeal. The Court felt that the judgment of the Single Judge declining interim injunction could not be prima facie faulted although the admission of the appeal would necessarily involve a fuller consideration of the issues at a later stage.
The product which is subject to B. Braun’s patent is an IV Catheter by which infusions and medications can be administered to patients. The IV Catheters bear a guard which automatically covers the needle tip when the needle is withdrawn. Thereby doctors and nursing staff are protected from needle stick injuries and from possible infections with life threatening diseases like HIV or hepatitis C.