Interpore Cross International announced that following a hearing on January 6, 2003, the United States District Court for the Central District of California tentatively upheld the validity of U.S. Patent No. 5,474,555, owned by its wholly-owned subsidiary Cross Medical Products Inc, in connection with a motion for summary judgment brought by DePuy AcroMed Inc, a Johnson & Johnson company.

The company stressed that the ruling is only tentative at this time and could be modified by the Court prior to the Court's final ruling. The company expects to receive the Court's final ruling within the next three weeks.