BEDFORD, Mass., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Instrumentation Laboratory Company and its parent company Instrumentation Laboratory S.p.A. (IL) today announced that the Paris First Level Civil Court determined that Diagnostica Stago infringed the French counterparts of two European patents licensed exclusively to IL, and committed acts of unfair competition due to denigrating advertisements. As a result, the Court ruled in part that: 1) Diagnostica Stago must cease manufacturing and selling its infringing products, STA-Staclot APC-R kits and STAGEN Kit FVM Mutation, and must cease denigrating advertisements concerning IL’s products, 2) Diagnostica Stago’s inventory of STA-Staclot APC-R kits and STAGEN Kit FVM Mutation may be confiscated for potential future destruction, and 3) Diagnostica Stago must pay IL the sum of 2,000,000 euros (approximately $2,600,000 US) as an advance on damages for the infringement and unfair competition, plus attorneys’ fees. The court’s decision may be appealed.
IL is the exclusive licensee of two patents, EP 0 608 235 and EP 0 690 991, covering inventions from the world-renowned researcher, Dr. Bjorn Dahlback, relating to the detection of thrombophilia, a coagulation disorder, in human blood. The first patent relates to a method for diagnosing a human blood coagulation disorder called resistance to APC (also known as activated protein C resistance), while the second patent additionally relates to a method for determining the presence of gene mutations of Factor V, which is one of the causes of thrombophilia.
“Litigation is not our first preference. However, our belief that Diagnostica Stago violated our patent rights and unfairly advertised by disparaging IL’s product, forced us to pursue legal action. We are pleased with the Court’s decision,” said Josep Manent, Chief Executive at IL. “Our excellent HemosIL and Chromogenix reagent product line offers a broad spectrum of diagnostic tests, including assays for the detection of APC resistance and factor V Leiden mutations. We are committed to providing current and future customers around the world with these tests, to ensure that all hemostasis labs have access to the very best diagnostic tools for the highest quality patient care.”
IL offers tests for identifying resistance to APC, a cause of thrombophilia. Today, IL offers a comprehensive line of HemosIL reagents for the diagnosis of thrombophilia, including antithrombin, protein C, protein S, activated protein C resistance, factor V Leiden, homocysteine, ThromboPath, and Xpert HemosIL FII & FV molecular. Additionally, HemosIL reagents are available for the management of antiphospholipid syndrome, coagulation factors, von Willebrand disease, fibrinolysis, and general screening and anticoagulant monitoring. Coupled with the ACL family of instruments, IL brings automation to the hemostasis lab. IL is dedicated to providing constant innovation through the highest quality, fully integrated solutions.
Instrumentation Laboratory (www.ilus.com) is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and distributor of in vitro diagnostic instruments, related reagents and controls for use primarily in hospitals and independent clinical laboratories. The company’s product lines include critical care systems, hemostasis systems and information management systems. IL’s GEM product offerings, part of the critical care line, include the GEM Premier(TM) 4000 analyzer with Intelligent Quality Management (iQM), the new GEM Premier 3500 analyzer with iQM and the GEM PCL Plus(TM), a portable coagulation analyzer. IL’s hemostasis portfolio includes the ACL TOP family of hemostasis testing systems, fully automated, high-productivity analyzers, including the ACL TOP and the new ACL TOP 500 CTS. IL also offers the ACL ELITE and ELITE PRO(TM), other hemostasis analyzers and the HemosIL line of reagents.
The Instrumentation Laboratory logo, GEM, iQM, HemosIL, ACL, ACL TOP, ACL ELITE, ACL AcuStar, Premier and GEM OPL are trademarks of Instrumentation Laboratory Company and/or one of its subsidiaries or parent companies, and may be registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other jurisdictions. All other product names, company names, marks, logos, and symbols are trademarks of their respective owners.
