District Court Issues Ruling Favoring InteliFUSE vs Biomed Enterprises
Released on = February 9, 2007, 12:31 pm
Press Release Author = InteliFUSE, Inc.
Industry = Small Business
Press Release Summary = Following a Markman hearing in the patent infringement suit brought by InteliFUSE, Inc. against Biomedical Enterprises, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a ruling that claim constructions of plaintiff InteliFUSE "appropriately construe the disputed claim terms" and finding that "none of the defendant's (BME) arguments in opposition warrants rejection of Plaintiff's proposed constructions."
Press Release Body = New York-- Following a Markman hearing in the patent infringement suit brought by InteliFUSE, Inc. against Biomedical Enterprises, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a ruling that claim constructions of plaintiff InteliFUSE "appropriately construe the disputed claim terms" and finding that "none of the defendant\'s (BME) arguments in opposition warrants rejection of Plaintiff\'s proposed constructions."
US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the Memorandum Order on January 25th after reviewing both parties\' written submissions and counsel arguments during the Markman hearing last November 20th, rejecting BME\'s contentions that the InteliFUSE patents for its technology of heat retractable shape memory clamps and heating devices used in bone fracture fixation and remodeling should be more narrowly interpreted. A Markman hearing is so named for the Supreme Court 1996 case of Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., which held that matters of patent claim interpretation are an issue of law for the court and not a question of fact for the jury.
Judge Swain in her ruling said in part, "It is a bedrock principle of patent law that the claims of a patent define the invention to which the patentee is entitled the right to exclude." In further explanation, she held, "The intrinsic evidence here demonstrates that facets of the subject matter claimed by InteliFUSE, and described and enabled in the specifications, do not define the contours of the claimed inventions, but instead describe the preferred embodiment of a broader invention. For example, according to the decision, "BME\'s assertion that the patents in-suit must be interpreted as limited to clamps composed of nickel-titanium alloy must therefore be rejected."
According to InteliFUSE CEO Eugene A. ("Chip") Antoine, Jr., "the court\'s decision sustaining the InteliFUSE view of the breadth of our patent claims is an important and welcomed event, making proof of BME\'s infringement of the patents that much more straightforward."
Web Site = http://www.intelifuse.com
Contact Details = Eugene A. Antoine, Jr.||365 Canal Street, Suite 2300||New Orleans , 70130||$$country||||504-561-1100||c.antoine@intelifuse.com||http://www.intelifuse.com