Sleep vendors continue legal wrangle
By HME News Staff
Updated Wed August 21, 2013
SAN DIEGO - ResMed has announced that the International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to investigate BMC Medical, a Chinese medical device manufacturer, and its U.S.-based distributors, 3B Medical and 3B Products, for patent infringement.
ResMed requested the investigation. It also filed a lawsuit against BMC in federal court in May.
"We're encouraged by the ITC's action to investigate this case against BMC," stated ResMed Global General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer David Pendarvis. "We invest over $100 million in research and development each year to fuel these advances and other companies should not be allowed to infringe ResMed's intellectual property by using our technology."
ResMed filed a similar lawsuit against Apex Medical, a Taiwanese manufacturer, earlier this year. That action resulted in Apex consenting to an order barring it from bringing infringing products into the U.S. market.
Apex, however, is fighting back. On Aug. 20, the company announced that it will challenge six of the seven patents involved in the lawsuit. It is doing so under a law that allows re-examination of patents if there is substantial invalidity evidence.
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