EKF Diagnostics, the point of care in-vitro diagnostics company, announced that the German High Court issued a trial decision in an ongoing patent dispute between EKF Diagnostics and a Swedish competitor, Hemocue AB.

The original dispute dates back to 2005, when Hemocue sued EKF Diagnostics GmbH for a patent infringement related to the cuvettes used in the Hemo-Control product line. EKF subsequently changed the design so that it no longer infringed the patent. In addition EKF also sought to have the patent in question invalidated. The German courts agreed for the most part, and ruled that the patent was void save for one claim. This claim was irrelevant to the original infringement suit, because the EKF product was not based on this claim in the first place. Hemocue appealed against the ruling, and last Thursday the German High Court issued a trial decision that upheld the remaining patent claim in "a restricted version." The rationale for this decision is not expected to be known for three months. Until then, the full implications of the decisions are not known, but EKF does not expect that it will have any bearing on its trading because its current product is not based on the patent in question.

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Unlock with Email
Unlock with Google

Already have an account?
Login here