BURLINGTON, Mass., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. , a leading researcher and developer of light- based systems for cosmetic treatments, today announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued several rulings in Palomar’s favor in connection with an ongoing patent infringement lawsuit filed by Palomar and the Massachusetts General Hospital (“MGH”) against Cutera, Inc. In this lawsuit, Palomar and MGH accuse Cutera’s CoolGlide family of products of infringing U.S. Patent No. 5,735,844 (the ‘844 patent). Yesterday, the Court denied Cutera Inc.'s requests for summary judgment of invalidity and non-infringement. The next step in the lawsuit is a jury trial, and Palomar will ask the Court to set a trial date at a January 12, 2006 scheduling hearing. If Palomar prevails at trial, Cutera may be ordered to pay millions in damages for past sales and ordered to stop selling infringing products. Palomar does not plan on licensing Cutera going forward. Palomar also alleges that Cutera’s activities constitute willful infringement of the ‘844 patent. If Palomar prevailed on such a claim, Cutera could be forced to pay up to triple the amount of the original damages assessment.
In the summary judgment ruling, the District Court denied Cutera’s request for summary judgment that the ‘844 patent is invalid over prior art, namely articles by Kuhns and Ohshiro. Also in the summary judgment ruling, the District Court denied Cutera’s request for summary judgment that Cutera’s products do not infringe the ‘844 patent. The Court held that Cutera was attempting to read limitations into the patent claims that did not exist.
Patricia Davis, Palomar’s General Counsel and a registered patent attorney, commented, “It is important to note that the Court rejected Cutera’s invalidity arguments and held that Cutera’s references, namely articles by Kuhns and Ohshiro, do not anticipate the asserted claims of the ‘844 patent. At the same time, the Court also rejected Cutera’s urging to limit the patent’s true scope with regard to infringement. We continue to believe in the strength of our infringement position against Cutera.”
Chief Executive Officer Joseph P. Caruso commented, “We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling, and we are looking forward to having a trial as soon as possible. We have always believed in the strength of the ‘844 patent as well as its corresponding patent family members, and we will continue to aggressively enforce all of our patents.”
A copy of the Court’s ruling is available at: http://pacer.mad.uscourts.gov/recentopinions.html.
In addition to the summary judgment ruling, the Court also denied a Cutera discovery motion and a motion by Cutera to re-open claim construction on the claim term “applicator.”
In addition to the lawsuit described above, on April 7, 2005, Palomar and MGH filed a second lawsuit against Cutera in the same Court accusing Cutera’s new pulsed light products for hair removal, including the ProWave 770, of infringing both the ‘844 patent and related U.S. Patent No. 5,595,568 (the ‘568 patent). This lawsuit is in its early stages and is progressing.
About Palomar Medical Technologies Inc: Palomar is a leading researcher and developer of light-based systems for cosmetic treatments. Palomar pioneered the optical hair removal field, when, in 1997, it introduced the first high-powered laser hair removal system. Since then, many of the major advances in light-based hair removal have been based on Palomar technology. There are now millions of light-based cosmetic procedures performed around the world every year in physician offices, clinics, spas and salons. Palomar is testing many new and exciting applications to further advance the hair removal market and other cosmetic applications. Palomar is uniquely focused on developing proprietary light-based technology for introduction to the mass markets. Palomar has an agreement with The Gillette Company to develop and potentially commercialize a patented home-use, light-based hair removal device for women, an agreement with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies to develop and potentially commercialize home-use, light-based devices for reducing or reshaping body fat including cellulite, reducing the appearance of skin aging, and reducing or preventing acne and awarded a contract by the Department of the Army to develop a light-based self-treatment device for Pseudofolliculitis Barbae (“PFB”).
For more information on Palomar and its products, visit Palomar’s website at http://www.palomarmedical.com. To continue receiving the most up-to-date information and latest news on Palomar as it happens, sign up to receive automatic e-mail alerts by going to the E-mail Alerts page in the Investor Relations’ section of the website.
With the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein contain forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements relating to new markets, development and introduction of new products, and financial projections that involve risk and uncertainties that may individually or mutually impact the matters herein, and cause actual results, events and performance to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, results of future operations, technological difficulties in developing or introducing new products, the results of future research, lack of product demand and market acceptance for current and future products, the effect of economic conditions, challenges in managing joint ventures and research with third parties and government contracts, the impact of competitive products and pricing, governmental regulations with respect to medical devices, including whether FDA clearance will be obtained for future products, the results of litigation, difficulties in collecting royalties, potential infringement of third-party intellectual property rights, and/or other factors, which are detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and the Company’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Contacts: Investor Relations Palomar Medical Technologies Inc 781-993-2411 ir@palomarmedical.com
Palomar Medical Technologies Inc.
CONTACT: Investor Relations of Palomar Medical Technologies Inc., +1-781-993-2411, ir@palomarmedical.com
Web site: http://www.palomarmedical.com/
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